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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:
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