In NorthCarolina, the top 25% of teachers are eligible to give up due process rights in return for an extra $500 a year. However, there is a catch, this reader says:
“It is $500 a year for 4 years and then back to where you were in 2013-14. You don’t stay at the plus $2,000 in year 5. Also since only the first year is funded local funds will have to be found for years 2, 3 and 4. It’s just the cheese in the trap.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This bit from the Alec playbook, with encouragement from the Gates Foundation, is being played out all around the country. In district after district, this “bargain” is being offered.
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The “deal” is for far less that 25% of all the teachers in a district: Legislature (General Assembly) passed a law mandating that all NC School Boards decide which 25 percent of teachers (rounded down) who have been employed full-time by their district for at least three consecutive years and rated “proficient” or higher on all standards of a recent summative evaluation, will be offered a four-year contract that includes a $500 bonus, compounded each contract year (depending on available funding).
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“. . . “proficient” or higher on all standards. . . ”
That right there will probably eliminate 99% of the teachers from those great bonuses.
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I commented on this today. It is misleading many educators in NC. It is NOT a $5000 raise. Here is how it has been spun in NC:
Let’s say your base salary is $38,000 and you agree to give up your “tenure” in exchange for a 4 year contract:
Year 1: $38,000 + $500 = $38,500
Year 2: $38,000 + $1000 = $39,000
Year 3: $38,000 + $1500 = $39,500
Year 4: $38,000 + $2000 = $40,000
It is being reported by the media that teachers have been begging for a raise, but now they are turning down a $5,000 raise!
We are spreading the word here in NC: Decline to sign! Decline to sign! Decline to Sign!
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To add insult to injury… the NC dept of ed acts as if teachers are stupid enough to buy into this idiotic maneuver? And if the public bothers to do a tiny bit of math, they will see that it is CERTAINLY not a 5,000 dollar augmentation… Chicanery! What an insult.
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Unless the public reads past the headline and the front page they won’t understand this or the point that Diane made in her post that this is a disappearing “raise”… it is sad that a state DOE is promoting this idea…
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@MIss Dee – How sure of this are you?
“Let’s say your base salary is $38,000 and you agree to give up your “tenure” in exchange for a 4 year contract:
Year 1: $38,000 + $500 = $38,500
Year 2: $38,000 + $1000 = $39,000
Year 3: $38,000 + $1500 = $39,500
Year 4: $38,000 + $2000 = $40,000”
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I am sure of it. Pending funding- so far only year 1 is funded and no guarantee of getting it after the 4 years.
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I don’t think most teachers understand this. I thought the $500 raise was recalculated based on the year before, which I thought included the $500 raise.
This needs to be advertised. Why has NCAE not been more forthcoming or Red4EdNC? This sort of thing should be advertised on pages like this:
http://red4ednc.com/2013/10/19/teachers-must-decide-by-may/
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Yes, ME. I am sure of this.
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but aren’t all teachers already on contract, and can be fired by simply not inviting them back? What’s the diff?
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I got hit with that little trick. I earned enough units to get a yearly stipend for a period of 3-5 (I can’t remember) years. I earned the units while I was a part-time teacher and was not offered a full-time position when the part-time position was dissolved.
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now, are all teachers under a one year contract? Or just some?
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Most will be on 1 year contracts some will be on 2 year the rest who get 4 year contracts are what this post is about.
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My experience was ten years ago. What’s the saying about nothing new under the sun? Due process rights were only taken away last year in my state, but I was obviously was not tenured as a part-time teacher.
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Thu:
Lots of difference (if you really do care to know; can’t tell if you do).
Administrators have schools to run. Rest adding every classroom every year is not practical or efficient. But to acknowledge that factor would mean trusting administrators to make decisions on behalf of their schools that are not trumped by some measure of value imposed by a third party far away at a political action committee meeting. And because teachers are portrayed as takers and not givers, this law is a way to rein them in without allowing the administrator the esteem or efficiency of hiring their own staff. Once career status is achieved (after four years of qualifying evaluations by a certified administrator), the protocol has typically been that teachers could count on having a position in the district with relative certainty, so long as they continued to perform working the guidelines of continued yearly evaluations (rather than the four a year that are/have been required) to achieve career status. This approach allows the administrator to focus on newer teachers and all of the other aspects of running a school, and allowing for a school climate that is cultivated over the years, rather than a work environment running like a sales force (which would be inefficient and even counter-productive when charged with the care and nurture of children and the laud of academics, free from political pressure).
This new approach dictates, by default, that only one fourth of the teaching force (which also includes all counselors, media specialists, arts and physical education faculty) could possibly be worth keeping with any certainty, and at that for only four years at most. Everyone else will be assumed good enough to warrant need for their services one year or two years. So every year administors will be back to four evaluations per teacher per year, the edification of the school climate through the establishment of norms being greatly at risk, and the efficiency and trust that could distinguish an excellent school staff is trumped by a far-off political notion.
It is very different. If you have hung around a school, you get that. If you are someone who is more often at meetings in other states grabbing pre-fab legislation written by people who do not seem to value the public school and the people who use them or work in them as anything more than a drag on a budget, you probably won’t get that.
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“Rest adding” should have read “re staffing”
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Thanks for the reply. I have a bit of a problem with “Once career status is achieved (after four years of qualifying evaluations by a certified administrator), the protocol has typically been that teachers could count on having a position in the district with relative certainty, so long as they continued to perform working the guidelines of continued yearly evaluations (rather than the four a year that are/have been required) to achieve career status. ”
I appreciatethat it takes time to become a good teacher, but some might never reach that. Others might coast r decline. Overall, that just sounds like it leaves too much opportunity for some to coast along.
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No, some teachers have a continuing contract, which is career status. You sign this contract one time. Teachers with career status cannot be fired by simply not being invited back.
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Speaking of North Carolina: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/04/charter-experiment-spinning-out-of-control-in-durham-county/
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The charterites/privatizers give with one hand what they take back with another?
So that is why Linda calls them “edufrauds”…
Of course, where is the $tudent $ucce$$ in saying what you mean and meaning what you say? Ah, once again nailed to the wall by an old dead Greek guy…
“Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.” [Plato]
😎
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@KrazyTA.. you quote.. “The charterites/privatizers give with one hand what they take back with another?..” I would say that “they give a very pseudo appearance of “giving” while outright stealing and lying with the other…”
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artseagal: for a not “old dead Greek guy”—
Touché!
😎
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As one colleague of mine put it, this new law is causing so much distraction from our work.
Two topics dominate (albeit our teachers are handling it with great élan and professionalism: the 25% law and the third grade Read to Achieve). Neither law is having any positive effects that I can see EXCEPT to wake people up about who is in office in Raleigh.
The leadership in Raleigh, as I heard it put recently, has imposed a mindset of scarcity on our state. Teachers and students are caught in the midst of this politics, even targeted by it. While a mindset of abundance does have to be kept in check, it is certainly a happier way to live. And I cannot understand choosing that which is not happy, when there is no need to do so.
Perhaps some teachers towards the end of their careers will take the contract, if they are retiring before 2018, but this is not like a beauty scholarship pageant where the contestsants nervously wring their hands in wild anticipation that they will be chosen. Not at all. The desire of a market place mentality for public schools by our Raleigh leadership through their ALEC type 25% law is not creating a jump up and down, hope I get the crown spirit among public school educators because we know better. And that does not make us lazy, complacent, responsible for the sun going behind the clouds, or riding any kind of gravy train. That makes us realistic enough to do our jobs, which can be made even better by an understanding support and leadership from our elected officials.
The magnitude of scapegoating our public school teachers across the nation is truly unbelievable to me. This 25% law is just another example of that.
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Joanna,
What’s your guestimate of how many teachers have a “proficient” rating in ALL standards of recent evaluations?
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Duane I am not Joanna but my name is close! It is up to the NC Superintendents and can be overridden by school boards. The teachers have very positive evaluations right now since standard 6 (Value Added Scores) have not been implemented yet. But the Principals and Superintendents do have access to that information for last year. I am not sure if they are using it or not. Right now they are hoping the lawsuits against this travesty is successful and they never have to implement this. My guess is only one third of the teachers were met growth expectations at the best since they artificially failed 2/3 of the children. But those figures are not public. I think I can find you the other evaluation information if you want. It is at the NC Department of Public Instruction Site.
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I guess what I’m trying to point out is that probably very few teachers would qualify for the “bonus” anyway due to prior evals and that all standards had to have met the “proficient” level.
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No- I think there will be plenty that qualify since the evals have been great so far. . . but hopefully few that will sign.
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I have no idea.
But I do know that with the new law, also, comes the stipulation that any teacher with any rating of what is now considered to be “developing” has automatic grounds for dismissal. In my opinion, “developing” is an appropriate rating in some areas for a new teacher AND/or for an experienced teacher creating and attaining goals in new areas (like technology, website use, etc).
So room for growth is ostensibly no longer allowed.
Having taught in at least 15 schools (I was a traveling music teacher several times, and when I was a gifted facilitator I had 6 schools); also I’ve taught in 8 states (public and private), I would say that a poor teacher is the exception, not the rule (that’s my gut and my opinion, based on nothing but my observations of teachers and my experience as a student myself). And everyone has room for growth, always, which is why the no room for growth part of the law is not realistic to me.
Could I suggest alternatives? (since those opposing reform are ridiculed for not offering solutions). . . yes, I could. If anybody cared to know, I would tell them.
But under all of these reforms is the latent reach for money, resistance to anyone else’s idea of community, the seduction of exclusion, the presumption that there are heroes, exacerbated by the conservative agenda and fueled by the illusion that choice (albeit choice funded by tax payers) is the answer. We are so far down the pathway, that I don’t think we can just turn around. Bold conversations need to occur, and, if possible, a willingness to let go of certain ideology long enough to listen to new ideas IF they are not simply focused on money. So many of the discussions, I think, are based on money (even if under the surface) and avoidance of anyone who has none.
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Duane–
if you look up individual districts, you can probably find a ratio. Buncombe County has already identified the number and from that I think they are literally just drawing names out of a hat for different buckets (like one for counselors, one for special ed, one for curriculum coaches etc). I THINK. And several districts have passed resolutions not to offer the contracts.
I have never achieved career status in NC because I have moved so many times and I took three years off to have my son (you have to be in one district for three consecutive years). So I don’t qualify (hence I’m only informed sort of). You have had to start over on the ladder if you are out for more than two years for maternity or whatever. In my twenties and early thirties, I followed my music groups and found teaching jobs wherever we landed (I took every PRAXIS there was—licensed in 5 states in several areas besides music), so I did not drop anchor in any state or district. I’ve always had good evaluations, but I certainly don’t think it’s bad if a teacher has “developing” in one area (particularly since the areas are wide and varied). (Not to get too personal; just qualifying why there is a limit to what I know—-it doesn’t apply to me). It does apply to my sister, who teaches third grade. And I know she is worried about her students with the Read to Achieve law (most third grade teachers are far more worried about their students not passing third grade than they are about the 25% law, from what I can see).
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$2000 is my Staples Supply cost for a year…
You want to buy me??? Pay Up..
How about 40 times that and I still will not take that slap in the face!
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This is ridiculuous! Just goes to show how lowly the predatory reformers think of teachers…what teacher in their right mind would give up their rights to due process for a measly $500 a year…and for probably only one year as it will be deteremined at year 2 that there is no more money to pay for this program although the rights will not be given back…and that said teacher must be found proficient on all levels to earn the measly $500 bonus?!! Chump change, for sure!
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And…..from what I understand- this $500 is to be taxed separately at 46%, so drop the $500 down to about $250- now divide that by 10, not 12!! Whoop, $25 a month, but not summer months. What a joke.
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Today is a statewide Decline to Sign Day https://www.facebook.com/events/603268289745607/
Please join us in supporting NC teachers!
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Teachers across NC are learning the sobering details of the “Top 25% Contracts” and why they should decline to sign (#Decline2Sign) at http://ncae.org/decline2sign. On Wed, Feb. 5, all teachers and supporters of public education should WEAR RED and use social media to post pics of themselves with friends holding a sign that includes #Decline2Sign and their school’s name & city. Don’t forget to tag each photo with “#Decline2Sign” and change its privacy setting to “Public” so everyone will be able to see it! Also on this date, NC teachers should consider pledging to decline to sign a 25% contract and sign a letter to their school board urging them to pass a resolution to the General Assembly against this legislation. The flyer, pledge, letter, a PowerPoint, and other materials are all available for download at http://ncae.org/decline2sign!
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Janna, if you had let me know sooner, I would have posted this. But teachers are already in school.
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Thank you. I promise I will let you know well in advance of future events. This is a NCAE event that has been fairly well promoted and we expect fairly good turnout. It is really more of a facebook event. The only issue was we were also busy promoting AIM High events (to raise teacher salaries) and two Moral Monday events. One was local in Wilmington and one is the one you are going to in already in Raleigh.
I am not an official leader or member of any of these organizations since I work for NC. But I do a lot to promote them. I will also let you know about any opting out of test events, RED for ED, petitions, and important school board meetings I hear about. I may have to start my own web page so I can help myself and others keep track of all that is going on in NC.
We am very excited at all the people wanting to get involved and help even though it is a scary time to be a teacher in NC. I do want you to know your support and help at keeping NC in the national spot light has been invaluable. We truly appreciate you.
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Some great commentary from an NC teacher on these harmful new “bonus” contracts for the 25%…he also agrees that all NC teachers should refuse to sign.
Spread the word!
http://www.midtownraleighnews.com/2014/02/01/3580800/teacher-tenure-proposal-is-misleading.html
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For those who are not familiar with NC, please be advised the new GOP gov. is addressing problems he inherited two years ago.
If Liberals can allow President Obama to keep blaming President Bush FOUR YEARS into his administration, Gov. McCrory is be given ample time to reduce our 2.5 billion debt, lower the 8% unemployment in addition to making teacher salaries more competitive with regional states.
ajbruno14 gmail
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This is not Democrat or Republican to me.All I know is at the federal level the government (now under Democratic control) is mandating CCSS and Value Added evaluations for teachers since we “won” Race to the Top. We received 400 million to get computers so we could test everyone on these computers.
But our state legislature (now under Republican control) chose to cut school supplies, cut teaching assistants, increase class sizes, cut teacher career status, cut teaching fellows, cut master’s pay, start this strange merit pay, start grading schools, start failing students who do not read at proficiency at 3rd grade, start allowing vouchers for private schools and open the door to unlimited charter schools. Also no raise for teachers so we are at 46 in the country in teacher pay. They also found millions of dollars to pay for Teach for America. So if they were trying to save money why did they chose to fund programs that are significantly less cost effective like TFA than the one they already had (ie.Teaching Fellows?
I am an independent voter and have no where to turn except vetting individuals Democrats and Republicans to make sure they understand that we need to support public schools..
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With ya.
Independent here too.
Both parties led us down these garden paths.
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Janna,
Your response is dead on! Thank you.
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You are right.
But it’s a triage.
The things on the table right now are from our ALEC guys (with added insults due to RttT).
But you are right, Bruno. Party lines won’t solve this. At all.
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Oh please ajbruno. What a pile of steaming mess.
First, I can’t stand Obama, so you’ll have to find someone else to fight with on this point. I think Obama has acted just like his corporate masters have directed…which is exactly how Romney would have acted. I doubt there would have been much difference in what Romney would have done…stimulus, health care…etc…
Second, the previous administration in NC was still run by republicans – they controlled everything other than the governorship. Perdue tried to raise teachers’ salaries but failed. And I don’t think teachers were too bitter about, especially from 2008 – 2010. We knew what was going on in the economy – we were just happy to have jobs.
What McCrory has done is a travesty. At a time even he has admitted that the private sector has picked up, he slashed state income taxes for the rich, cancelled the inheritance tax for the rich, shifted those taxes to certain purchased goods, cut public education by hundreds of millions of dollars based on projected needs by NCDPI, gave his own cabinet raises, renovated some of his mansion, sabotaged the ACA, kicked unemployed off benefits (which makes it look like the rate has gone down – Obama and the feds have done the same thing), and basically went from being a moderate conservative (which is why I voted for him, as many independents did) to being a radical tea party freak under the order of Art Pope, Tillis, and Berger.
The only good thing McCrory has done is to fund the retirement of teachers and state employees, rather than take money (as Perdue did).
And please, please, please inform us of how McCrory is “making teacher salaries more competitive with regional states”. I can travel less than 10 miles south of where I live in NC and teach in SC making 15K more than I make now – granted SC will pay me for ALL of my graduate degrees, which NC will not do now because they stopped paying those teachers for graduate degrees from this point on (I will be finishing one of my many graduate degrees very soon, but I missed the cut off date). Also, up north Virginia is going to pull teachers out of NC – they actually have admitted in attempting this with job fairs aimed directly at NC teachers.
Just stop blathering, seriously.
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I would like to add to the part about teachers leaving North Carolina. There are other states that pay their Subsitute teachers 200.00 a day. I could work there half the amount of day I do in NC and make just as much if not more. Teachers are leaving and a lot of different factors pay into it, but we are all sick of being mistreated.
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I am glad to see our NC superintendents are standing up too!
“Superintendents in the state’s 10 largest school districts – that includes Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg – are weighing in on the hottest education issues of the day. The superintendents have a set of recommendations on Common Core standards, vouchers and teachers salaries for the legislature and the State Board of Education to consider.
The quick summary on Common Core: keep it, but get the testing straight. They want the State Board of Education’s assurance that it’s committed to the new standards and won’t put districts through another change for at least seven years.
Superintendents want nationally-normed tests and want the state board to let school districts help decide which to use.
On vouchers: dump them. Superintendents want the legislature to repeal the law giving low-income parents tax money to send their children to private school. Barring an outright repeal, superintendents want the legislature to keep the income limits where they are: at 100 percent of the free and reduced lunch income level. The income ceiling is set to rise in the second year of the program. (The state superintendents association put stopping vouchers at the top of their legislative to-do list last year. The legislature started a voucher program despite the opposition.)
The superintendents have nine recommendations on teacher salaries. Among them: adopt a five-year plan to bring teachers’ salaries to the national average.; work with teachers, schools and others to adopt a comprehensive pay program that includes pay-for-performance, a competitive base salary and incentives for teachers to advance; restore the master’s pay salary increase for teachers.
The group is calling itself the North Carolina Large District Superintendent Consortium.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3591248/big-school-districts-on-the-big.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3591248/big-school-districts-on-the-big.html
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Click to access decline_to_sign_flyer_and_handouts.pdf
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We as teachers in North Carolina all need to take a stand and deny this stupid offer. What is 500 more a year? Nothing. And like the article says we are only guaranteed to get it for one year…yeah right they are going to find more money for year 2, 3, 4.
Teachers are leaving because we are treated with disrespected on a daily basis. I’m a 8th year teacher and have had one raise since I started 8 years ago. I’m basically making what a brand new teacher out of college is making. It is crap.
When is the state government going to stop making lots of money and take a pay cut. Yeah right they are too selfish to do that. And yes someone mentioned that NC GOV came into problems…agreed but he also said he was going to fix those problems and really he is making them worse. What to base pay off how well my students do on a test. Well guess what my students are witnessing shootings and abuse at home right before they come to learn for the day.
I will be leaving soon when the right move can be made.
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My comment is awaiting moderation since I accidentally had 2 links here it is with one.
I am glad to see our NC superintendents are standing up too!
“Superintendents in the state’s 10 largest school districts – that includes Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg – are weighing in on the hottest education issues of the day. The superintendents have a set of recommendations on Common Core standards, vouchers and teachers salaries for the legislature and the State Board of Education to consider.
The quick summary on Common Core: keep it, but get the testing straight. They want the State Board of Education’s assurance that it’s committed to the new standards and won’t put districts through another change for at least seven years.
Superintendents want nationally-normed tests and want the state board to let school districts help decide which to use.
On vouchers: dump them. Superintendents want the legislature to repeal the law giving low-income parents tax money to send their children to private school. Barring an outright repeal, superintendents want the legislature to keep the income limits where they are: at 100 percent of the free and reduced lunch income level. The income ceiling is set to rise in the second year of the program. (The state superintendents association put stopping vouchers at the top of their legislative to-do list last year. The legislature started a voucher program despite the opposition.)
The superintendents have nine recommendations on teacher salaries. Among them: adopt a five-year plan to bring teachers’ salaries to the national average.; work with teachers, schools and others to adopt a comprehensive pay program that includes pay-for-performance, a competitive base salary and incentives for teachers to advance; restore the master’s pay salary increase for teachers.
The group is calling itself the North Carolina Large District Superintendent Consortium.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3591248/big-school-districts-on-the-big.html#storylink=cpy
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I have been reading the above responses to the post and have noted the times that people are responding. Is everyone off from work today??? How on earth do you have the time to read and respond if you are at work? No way would I even open the blog at work (if I had time.) Our online activities are monitored and we have been told that nothing is private – this at the district level.
I suppose that your time is your own at middle and high schools but at the elementary level time away from students is so precious it is always spent working. Just wondering.
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Well now that I go back and look at the times it appears that many of the worker bees are night owls too, like me.
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I work 50-60 hours a week but the times vary.
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A little bird told me that our county no longer will be giving the Read to Achieve reading portfolio in our county following a meeting last night with State Board of Education.
Sent from my iPhone
>
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They did pass some nice alternatives! http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2014/02/06/state-board-of-ed-approves-alternatives-to-read-to-achieve-portfolio/
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