Better Pay for Better Teaching
Denver Post Editorial
Article Originally Published: Sunday, February 15, 2004
Teachers hold our future in their hands. Yet for too long, their salaries have not matched the importance of their jobs.
A revolutionary new plan proposed for Denver Public Schools teachers would begin to change that. Teachers and taxpayers should embrace it.
Their salaries will never match those of private business CEOs, but the new plan would allow teachers to break free from the bureaucratic system that now rewards instructors simply for passing time. The proposal cherry-picks the best pieces of teacher-pay systems from around the country and wraps them together under the title of Professional Compensation System for Teachers, or ProComp.
ProComp is unique because its core provision allows teachers to be rewarded for student achievement. It also would pay teachers more for working in the most challenging schools and for continually improving their skills and knowledge. It lifts the caps that cause longtime teachers to max out their salaries, and it also allows young go-getters to earn more money now without having to wait decades.
And it should help DPS recruit and retain top teachers.
"I believe it's good for the profession - not to pay teachers different (salaries) but to pay
them more. And to pay them more, they need to do something different," says Becky
Wissink, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
First, she'll have to sell this ambitious proposal to teachers.
Union leadership and the DPS board already have reached an agreement on the specifics after years of negotiations and pilot programs. The DPS board will formally vote on the proposal this month, and next month the teachers will vote. Then it must be sold to voters.
To make the plan work, DPS needs an extra $25 million a year to pay for the bonuses and salary hikes. Denver voters likely will be asked to approve a mill-levy override in November 2005.
It would be a wise investment. The plan is solid and specific and doesn't just "throw good money after bad," as tax curmudgeons often say when deriding mill levies. Teachers who are nervous about jumping into the new system actually don't have to, under a nice provision built into the plan. They can remain under the current system for as long as they're employed.
The system also wisely avoids tying salary increases to CSAP scores - which would be a sure death knell with teachers. Instead, teachers can work with their supervisors to create different measurements of student growth. However, if their students perform within a certain range on the CSAPs, teachers will be eligible for bonuses.
The current pay model, known as single salary schedule, was needed when it was created, some 75 years ago. It says women and non-whites should be paid the same as white males doing the same job. It served its purpose well. But education is changing, and this plan is built for the 21st century.
XXX