FW: [ca-resisters] Rhee Seeks Tenure-Pay Swap for Teachers

[MONICALUCIDO@comcast.net]

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
Subject: [ca-resisters] Rhee Seeks Tenure-Pay Swap for Teachers
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 20:18:39 +0000
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070203498_
> pf.html
> 
> Rhee Seeks Tenure-Pay Swap for Teachers
> Giving Up Seniority Would Boost Salary If Benchmarks Met
> 
> By V. Dion Haynes
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, July 3, 2008; B01
> 
> D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is proposing a contract that 
> would give mid-level teachers who are paid $62,000 yearly the 
> opportunity to earn more than $100,000 -- but they would have to give 
> up seniority and tenure rights, two union members familiar with the 
> negotiations said yesterday.
> 
> Under the proposal, the school system would establish two pay tiers, 
> red and green, said the union members, who spoke on condition of 
> anonymity because the talks are confidential. Teachers in the red 
> tier would receive traditional raises and would maintain tenure. 
> Those who voluntarily go into the green tier would receive thousands 
> of dollars in bonuses and raises, funded with foundation grants, for 
> relinquishing tenure.
> 
> Teachers in the green tier would be reviewed yearly and would be 
> allowed to continue in their jobs only if they passed an evaluation 
> and boosted students' test scores, the union members said.
> 
> Under Rhee's proposal, raises to the green tier would be more than 
> the 19 percent increase over five years she is proposing for all 
> teachers, the union members said.
> 
> They said teachers are opposed to giving up seniority and tenure, no 
> matter the size of their raise, and probably would reject such a proposal.
> 
> "You may be trading off your future, your tenure, your job security," 
> a union member said. "When you trade that, it seems to me you're not 
> getting much."
> 
> Rhee, who declined to comment yesterday because of the ongoing 
> negotiations, has said she wants a contract that would "revolutionize 
> education as we know it." She also has said she wants to improve 
> instruction by ensuring that the District "has the most highly 
> compensated and competent" teachers in the country.
> 
> Education experts who follow teacher contract issues said that D.C. 
> teachers would be among the highest-paid educators in the nation 
> under Rhee's plan and that a proposal eliminating seniority and 
> tenure would be groundbreaking.
> 
> "Fixing teachers' contracts is a high priority everywhere," said 
> Bryan Hassel, co-director of Public Impact, an education research and 
> consulting organization in Chapel Hill, N.C. "If Rhee accomplishes 
> this, it would be earthshaking reform that would have implications everywhere."
> 
> Rhee can restrict seniority rights through a little-used District law 
> that allows principals to diminish seniority rankings and use them 
> among several other factors -- including evaluations, military 
> service and whether the teacher is in a high-demand area such as math 
> or special education -- to make changes during staff cuts.
> 
> The law was aimed at addressing "bumping rights," which allow senior 
> teachers losing their positions during cutbacks to displace 
> less-experienced peers at other schools.
> 
> "Bumping rights had been viewed as a problem for those of us trying 
> to get quality teachers in the classroom. But we knew it was a 
> challenge getting it out of the contracts," 
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Kevin+P.+Chavous?tid=informline
> >Kevin 
> P. Chavous, who was on the 
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Council+of+the+District+of+Colu
> mbia?tid=informline>D.C. 
> Council when the law passed, said in a recent interview. "Even after 
> the law was passed, superintendents operated under the assumption 
> that bumping rights were still there."
> 
> The union members said Rhee wants to get seniority out of the 
> contract so that it will no longer be a factor in the legislation.
> 
> The two union members said Rhee wants to use donations from the Bill 
> &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael &amp; Susan Dell 
> Foundation and the Broad Foundation, in part, to pay for the raises 
> and bonuses. Officials from the Gates and Broad foundations would not 
> comment on proposed future funding.
> 
> Megan Matthews, a Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation spokeswoman, 
> said the foundation has had general discussions with D.C. school 
> officials but has not committed funds to the teacher contract.
> 
> 
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