Contracts Address PI 34 Issues
By Joanne M. Haas
Carrie Dassow and Jim Carlson portray the 2003-05
contract between the Plymouth Joint School District and the Plymouth
Education Association as proof of what is possible when the bargaining
table turns into a circle.
“I would never use the word, ‘sides,’
“ Dassow said of district officials like herself and teacher representatives.
In Plymouth this year they worked together to create a contract encompassing
the state’s new three-tier teacher licensing law, PI 34, while
honoring local priorities.
Dassow, Plymouth’s director of curriculum and
instruction, said bargainers were dedicated to making sure students
learn from skilled and knowledgeable classroom teachers, and that Plymouth
attracts and retains quality teachers.
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Jim Carlson |
Carlson, the director of Kettle Moraine UniServ Council
(KMUC), describes the shared philosophy as “improving education
through compensation.”
The negotiated contract – which covers 203 teachers
– includes a six-part professional development program that addresses
requirements of PI 34.
The new licensing law requires teachers coming into
the system after August 31 of this year to complete professional development
plans to renew five-year Professional Educator licenses. Already-practicing
teachers may renew through the traditional method of completing six
college credits. The other PI 34 licensing levels are the non-renewable
Initial Educator for new college graduates and the 10-year renewable
Master Educator. Teachers with lifetime licenses are not affected by
the change.
Dassow said if she were still a teacher, she “would
welcome something like this,” referring to the Plymouth contract’s
professional development provisions. “If I am doing all the work,
I should get the compensation.”
The program’s six components include:
- New teacher development.
- A mentoring program that provides mentor training and annual compensation
of $500 and $700.
- A professional development council (the district’s version
of PI 34’s professional development teams).
- A professional development academy featuring district personnel
and outside experts leading courses and workshops.
- A leadership cadre that involves teachers serving as job and peer
coaches.
- The professional growth plan (called professional development plan
under PI 34).
Documents detailing the program say the combination of the six components
allow for greater skills and knowledge the teacher can directly apply
to the classroom and student learning. The program will be data-driven
and analyzed regularly to indicate the impact on student achievement,
and will be aligned with PI 34.
The Plymouth contract includes language for a yet-to-be-funded salary
plan providing 4.5% pay bumps for teachers who complete professional
growth plans.
Carlson, who has consulted on this “alternative compensation”
model in several states and nationally in the last several years, describes
it as a “three-dimensional salary schedule” resembling a
Rubik’s Cube – grids atop grids.
While it encompasses the professional development plans and goals of
PI 34, the Plymouth alternative compensation plan allows a teacher to
take salary steps through the lanes on the schedule while adding 4.5%
each time he or she completes a professional growth plan detailed in
the contract.
Another feature relates to PI 34’s requirement that a teacher
complete a professional development plan (or six credits for veteran
teachers) every three to five years for license renewal. The Plymouth
pay plan allows a teacher to complete such a growth plan every other
year, and earn an additional 4.5% in salary on top of the person’s
base pay. A professional growth plan may be applied to relicensure.
“This embraces and encompasses PI 34, and is a sound alternative
to the merit or evaluation pay or pay tied to student achievement scores,”
Carlson said.
One of the plan’s greatest features, Dassow said, is the required
feedback and collegial action.
“The learning experience has to be shared among the colleagues,”
she said. “That collaboration is a great learning effort. You
all grow.”
Dassow said the professional growth plans must be quality work to earn
the 4.5% pay bump.
She stressed that a veteran teacher is not required to complete a professional
growth plan, and may renew by college credits. However, the teacher
who opts for the growth plan would be eligible for the 4.5% bumps once
funding is secured.
Funding remains an issue, however. “The levels are in place,
but not accessible until we find funding,” Carlson said.
A recent district referendum that would have provided additional funding
failed, so Dassow said the district will seek to use federal Title II
dollars.
Other districts talking PI 34
Carlson said he has PI 34 language on the table in every one of the
collective bargaining negotiations on which he is working. He also works
with teacher locals in Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Chilton, New Holstein,
and Elkhart Lake, and education support professionals locals in Elkhart
Lake/Glenbeulah and Manitowoc.
The Two Rivers contract, which is also completed for 2003-05, contains
some, but not extensive, PI 34 language, he said.
Carlson’s efforts to get PI 34 language into contracts began
about four years ago, and Manitowoc and Plymouth are the current successes.
The Manitowoc contract (2001-03) provides an additional 13% salary
boost for teachers who earn National Board certification. The contract
also recognizes teachers who earn the Master Educator license under
PI 34, although an amount is not specified.
“It is our expectation they would earn the same thing”
for a Master Educator license as for national certification, he said.
The Manitowoc contract – covering 400 teachers – also contains
a new lane for the Initial Educator as defined by PI 34. Carlson said
the 2001-03 contract created a way for Initial Educators to move into
the Professional Educator lanes through the creation of a portfolio.
When this provision was implemented, he said, teachers were required
to earn six college credits for license renewal. The inclusion of this
new language recognized the requirements PI 34 puts in place after August
31 of this year.
The current contract also provides compensation for educators serving
as mentors.
Negotiate language now
Mike McNett, WEAC’s director of collective bargaining, advises
bargainers to get some PI 34 language into their contracts now.
“The 2003-05 contract will become the dynamic status quo between
its expiration in the summer of 2005 and the time later in the 2005-06
school year when the following contract is settled,” he said.
“It will therefore control the conditions for the first wave of
Initial Educators.”
“The whole thing could work well if it is implemented correctly,
with the participation of the association and the cooperation of the
administration. It also could be done in a minimum, perfunctory way
that doesn’t really provide any of the value that it was intended
to,” he said.
McNett said budget concerns about implementing PI 34 could be relieved
somewhat by tapping the earmarked teacher quality improvement dollars
included in the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
“A lot of people say we can’t implement PI 34 because
it costs money. But where could they get the money?” McNett asked.
“They could take it from federal ESEA funds.”
Title II-A funds are specifically earmarked for professional development
and could fund the PI 34 implementation programs, he said.
For more about PI 34, visit the OnWEAC Resource Page on Teacher
Licensing.
Posted April 8, 2004