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Senate Ed. Holds Merit Pay, But More Work to be Done!
Faced with overwhelming opposition from CTA, teachers around the state, organized labor, Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, and even the school boards association, the Senate Education Committee agreed today not to approve a CTA-opposed "merit pay" bill. The action to hold the bill in committee – taken without a vote – keeps SCAx1 1 from advancing in the Legislature, but allows the bill's author, Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) to open negotiations with SCAx1 1's sponsor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the measure's opponents in hopes of keeping it alive.
The bill, which would extend teachers' probation for 10 years and allow districts to tie pay to student test scores, could come up for consideration and a vote later this legislative year.
Coordinators: Great Work, But More Needs to be Done!
Your hard work paid off. SCAx1 1 (Runner) did not make it out of committee, and the senators' sentiments made it clear the bill did not have the votes to move during today's hearing. The bill still poses a threat, however. It is still alive, and Sen. Runner has pledged to try negotiating with opponents to secure more support for the measure.
To help kill SCAx1 1, continue contacting all members of the Senate Education Committee and making key arguments against the bill:
- The Governor's proposals on education, including his merit pay plan are a smoke screen designed to divert public attention away from the fact that he broke his promise to adequately fund public schools.
- This merit pay scheme ties pay to student test scores, but contains no incentives to raise student performance.
- The plan would make it harder to recruit and retain quality teachers – especially in our schools of greatest need.
- The merit pay plan would be costly, yet it does not provide for additional revenues.
- California has suspended previous merit pay plans due to lack of funding.
- No accommodation has been made for the training of administrators in this type of evaluation system.
- By eliminating an unbiased pay scale based on educational training and teaching experience, this bill would invite back the abuses that caused districts to create the single salary schedule in the first place.
- All California teachers merit good pay.
- The plan is unnecessary because merit pay can already be bargained.
Contact information for Senate Education Committee
Quotable Quotes
Here are some key statements made at the Senate Education Hearing on SCAx1 1:
Sen. Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), chair of the Senate panel, said the governor's merit pay proposal hit his daughter, a fourth grade teacher in Santa Clarita, like a "slap in the face."
"[That the] one teaching proposal coming out of the governor's office is [this one] is like saying that the problem with schools is the teachers."
Marcie Launey, president of the Sacramento City Teachers Association," said: "Teaching right now is not attractive. ….We need to make it simpler, not more complex."
Supt. O'Connell, in a letter of opposition read to panelists: "California needs more teachers, especially in light of retirements of a large segment…We want to encourage them to stay with professional growth, coaching, and leadership," the superintendent wrote. "The bill would pit teacher against teacher when we know collaboration is vital."
Sen. Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) said "With a comparable investment, we could restore the $2 billion that was in the [education budget]….teachers come into the profession with all these hopes to instill positive values in students and help them along….They can't afford [to stay] on a teacher's salary and with the other stresses they have in a somewhat dysfunctional system without counselors, without nurses, without administrators there to help them and back them up. Many are leaving the profession for those kinds of reasons."
He said teachers don't require this kind of financial incentive: "Teachers come to work motivated. They got into profession to help students meet their dreams."