Flawed system shouldn’t dictate teacher salaries

Dependant on Value Added Model, even 1% is too much, LFT says

(Baton Rouge – October 8, 2010) With a growing number of reports illustrating the chaos fomented by a new teacher evaluation system, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan asks school boards to limit the damage by minimizing the effect that the system has on teacher compensation.


Under Act 1 of 2012, school boards must design new teacher salary schedules by January 1, and have them in place by the 2013-14 school year. The law requires teacher effectiveness as measured by these evaluations to determine up to 50% of teacher compensation. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has challenged the constitutionality of the new law.

“This is insane,” said Monaghan. “A broken system, a flawed model, will be used to determine the intrinsic value of teachers and their economic worth.

“We urge school boards to protect their teachers from unnecessary damage by minimizing the effect that the flawed system will have on teacher compensation,” Monaghan said. “We understand that the law requires a percentage; we’re saying make it one percent or less, until this is fixed.”

Recently, a major newspaper called Governor Jindal’s evaluation scheme unfair and concluded that it “borders on immoral.” Just last week, one of the governor’s chief allies and a strong supporter of Act 1 called the evaluation scheme “ridiculous.”

“We are learning that many of the state’s finest teachers will be labeled ‘ineffective’ because of a flawed rating system which squeezes teachers into predetermined results or outcomes,” Monaghan said.

“Evidence from around Louisiana demonstrates that the new evaluation program does not accurately reflect teacher effectiveness,” Monaghan said. “It is an inappropriate instrument on which to base any significant portion of a teacher’s salary.”

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Estimating conference right to reject salary estimate, LFT says

How can anyone figure that the average teacher salary in Louisiana has gone up by $2,000 over the past year? Yet that is what the Education Estimating Conference was told on Tuesday, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

The committee decided not to accept the estimate, part of a much broader report on the state of public education's finances. That was the right decision, according to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers:

The state’s Education Estimating Conference was right to reject the portion of the report guessing that Louisiana’s average teacher salary has climbed to more than $51,000 per year, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

“In too many of our school systems, it is not possible for a teacher who has advanced degrees and is at the top of the salary schedule to ever earn that much money,” Monaghan said. “I believe it is fair to characterize this report as chatter, as noise that distracts us from inequities in the way we compensate educators.”

The LFT was responding to a report that consultant Mark Brantley presented to the estimating conference on Tuesday, in which he estimated that teachers this year earn an average of $51,560, an increase of nearly $2,000 over last year’s estimate, which Brantley pegged at $49,614.

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Increase in average teacher pay doesn't tell the whole story

Yesterday's announcement to the Education Estimating Conference that Louisiana teacher salaries have increased by 85% over 15 years doesn't come close to telling the whole story.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the Conference was informed that the average Louisiana teacher salary rose from $26,461 in 1994-95 to $48,903 in 2009-10.

Tellingly, the conference refused to adopt the report. Members questioned its methodology and meaning.

LFT Legislative Director Alison Ocmand also had issues with the report. In some school districts, it is impossible for teachers to earn over $48,000 because their salary schedules just don't go that high.

So the question arises: is the salary average skewed because veteran teachers with advanced degrees in higher-paying school earn much more than newer teachers in lower-paying districts? The report doesn't answer that question.

And there is no doubt that the gap between high and low paying districts is increasing. For example, in 1995, a beginning teacher in East Carroll Parish would have earned about $3,800 less than the same teacher could earn in East Baton Rouge Parish. This year, the difference is over $12,200.

There has been no statewide teacher pay raise since 2007, when freshman Gov. Bobby Jindal approved a $1,019 across-the-board pay raise. According to the conference's consultants, there will be no more teacher pay raises for at least two years.

Instead of self-congratulation for barely reaching the regional average a couple of years ago, we need to focus on paying teachers professional salaries in the years to come. Unless Gov. Jindal and the legislature get serious about dealing with the state's financial crisis, that goal will be mighty hard to achieve.

Panel acts to dismantle teacher salary schedule

The House Education Committee took a step toward dismantling the state's teacher salary schedule today when it approved House Bill 739 by Rep. Frank Hoffman of West Monroe.

The bill represents a true race to the bottom, as it allows school districts to pit retired teachers against current teachers in a contest to see who will work for the lowest salary.

If the bill becomes law, retired teachers who return to the classroom will not be allowed to enter the system at their former place on the salary ladder. Instead, school boards will "negotiate" their salaries. Testimony revealed that the intent is to pay them the same salary as beginning teachers.

Neither will the returning teachers ever be allowed to earn tenure or advance on the salary schedule - they will be year-to-year employees.

LFT President Steve Monaghan was the only person to present arguments against the bill, and he did it passionately.

"This is a direct affront to the salary schedule," Monaghan said. "Teachers should be paid for the service that they bring to a school."

"There will be unintended consequences to this legislation," he said. "It represents a disincentive for school boards to hire younger teachers if they can get veterans for less money."

The committee gave the bill a favorable recommendation, and then referred it to the House Retirement Committee for further action.

What is average, and is that what we'll settle for?

The discussion about teacher salaries has devolved to this: How much will it take to keep our salaries at the Southern regional average? The easy answer provided by the state's Education Estimating Conference yesterday is, $1,700 each.

But the easy answer is not always the correct one, and statistics are all too manipulable when used to reinforce a predetermined outcome.

Just for starters, the concept of a statewide teacher average salary is bogus. The starting salary for a new teacher in the Zachary school district is almost $43,000; in Union Parish it is closer to $31,000. The fact that they average $37,000 is meaningless.

Then there is the deliberate manipulation of data for political reasons. In this article by Times-Picayune reporter Ed Anderson, a consultant told the conference that if you exclude the salaries paid to teachers in Maryland and Delaware, Louisiana teachers are the fourth-highest paid in the Southern region.

But those states are part of the Southern region. You can just as easily say that if you exclude Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, no one in the State Department of Education makes over $300,00 per year.

The report given to the Education Estimating Conference does not list all the reasons why our teacher salaries have risen in comparison with other states. To begin with, there was a rally on the capitol steps two years ago that opened the way for the first major raise in several years. Without the actions taken by thousands of teachers and school employees, it's doubtful that the current administration could post such a glowing report.

But it is also true that Louisiana has an ageing teacher corps, with many close to the top of their salary schedules. Their steps up the ladder raise the state salary average without any legislative action. As they begin to retire, we will see a drop in the state average as younger, lower paid teachers take their positions.

Finally, we should stop making a fetish out of the Southern region, which is the lowest paid part of our nation. Should we be satisfied that our teacher salaries are in the middle of the lowest paid tier of states?

When the legislative session opens, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers will ask lawmakers to take a much bolder, broader view of education than we have in the past. We believe that our teachers should be paid nationally competitive salaries. The state should come up with a long-range plan that will not only get us where we should be, but sustain that level over the long haul.

Otherwise, we will stay in the cycle that requires educators to call off school and make the trek to Baton Rouge every few years for a rally on the capitol steps.

Associated Press reporter Melinda DesLatte covered the conference meeting for this report.

(Sidebar question: Whose bright idea was it to schedule the Education Estimating Conference meeting for 10:00 A.M. Tuesday morning, just as the inauguration festivities were getting underway in Washington?)