Pittsburgh was once one of Bill Gates’ favorite cities. He showered it with millions to try out his ideas about how to improve teaching and test scores. But it didn’t work.
Now Superintendent Anthony Hamlet is scrapping the last vestiges of the Gates plan.
Pittsburgh Public Schools is scrapping a performance-based pay system, giving all its teachers at least a 2 percent raise and paying its least experienced teachers as much as 15 percent more per year.
The tentative changes are included in three-year contracts overwhelmingly approved Wednesday by the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said Nina Esposito-Visgitis, the union’s president. The union represents about 3,000 teachers and support staff.
A little more than 2,000 members voted on the contracts, which were approved by 90 percent of teachers, 90 percent of paraprofessionals and 77 percent of technical and clerical employees.
“We really focused on the new teachers. We were falling behind other districts in terms of our starting salary,” Esposito-Visgitis said. “A lot of money was put at the bottom of the salary schedule because we want to attract the best and the brightest in Pittsburgh.”
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet issued a statement Wednesday night thanking “parents, stakeholders and the larger city for their patience” through stalled negotiations that nearly culminated in districtwide school closures.
Hamlet said he expects the new contracts to help reduce teacher turnover and improve school stability.
“It’s a testament to our members and to both negotiating teams that we were able to resolve things,” Esposito-Visgitis said. “We’re glad this chapter is over.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is fantastic news! (Whenever I believe that here, I always have to cover myself by asking, “Right?” Is there something I’m missing?)
The vestiges of Gates plans will be hard to get rid of. He has moved on to creating new districts and non-profit governance agreements to impose his will, with the CORE districts in California a favored model. He is also amping up his investments in on-line INSTRUCTION (not to be called on-line learning).
I prefer “on-line training”!
Good one, Duane.
Thanks, Yvonne! Just saying it as I see it, nothing more.
when our model of modern-day philanthrocapitalism Gates spells non-profit somehow it always comes out P R O F I T
Pittsburgh is the little city that could.
Public education is strong there. Instead of private charter schools willing to teach the kids who are easy to teach and delighted to treat the rest in the manner that will make them leave, they have magnet schools like Barack Obama Academy 6-12 Middle/High School. Run BY the Pittsburgh public school system instead by a private group of overseers appointed by a pro-charter Governor owned by hedge fund billionaires.
Uh oh, that means that in Pittsburgh, the schools can’t suspend 20% of their 5 year olds like Andrew Cuomo likes! As long as it isn’t white kids being suspended, Andrew Cuomo and his hand picked board of charter overseers love suspensions, especially of very young children.
As a future teacher it is nice to hear that Pittsburgh is going to be raising their teacher salaries. Teachers do not make enough money for the type of education they have and the amount of time they put in to their job. It is nice to see that Pittsburgh is wanting a positive turnover when it comes to new teachers. Most new teachers only stay for a couple of years before moving on. By doing this it will show students that their schools care about them by retaining teachers that are making a difference and preparing students for the future. Hopefully Pittsburgh will see great improvement over the next couple of years and have other cities follow in their steps.
I’m glad to see this. We hear time and time again that teachers need to be paid more, but it’s not so often that we get to celebrate a raise. I’m especially excited to see the 15% raise for newer teachers. As a future teacher, it is encouraging to hear that in some places, there is a little more pay, especially after coming off of my student loans. Having the raise will also encourage more teachers to apply, improving the quality of the education.