Recommendations to the Citizens and Government of Florida Concerning Teacher Compensation

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TEACHER COMPENSATION WORKING GROUP
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CITIZENS AND GOVERNMENT OF FLORIDA CONCERNING TEACHER COMPENSATION

- MAY 27, 1986
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

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Teacher. Compensation Working;Groupo

P.O. Box 836 Tallahassee. Florida:32302 (904) 681-6506

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: . Associated Industries. of Florida Citizens' Council on Education Florida Association of School Administraton Florida Chamber of Commerce∑ Florida Council of 100 Florida Education . Associationl United Florida Legislativ.e Alliance Florida School Boards Association Florida Teaching Profession I National Education Association

May 27, 1986

Dear Florida Citizen: The Teacher Compensation Working Group is an assembly of leaders of nine state level educational and business organizations. We have spent the past year discussing and debating a variety of issues concerning Florida's educational system and the compensation of its school teachers. We came together with the hope that these discussions wou Id lead to a greater common understanding and sense of direction for Florida to pursue in improving the outcomes of its K-12 educational program. We believe we have made significant progress. The following document describes our work in three parts. First is a general set of recommendations concerning the many components we believe must be incorporated in any sufficient vision of the teacher compensation issue. This section also describes the problems we are addressing by placing emphasis on the compensation of teachers. The second part puts forth a framework for our Legislature, State Board of Education, Depart.ment of Education and sixty-seven local school districts to utilize in establishing performance based Career Development Programs to reward those teachers who demonstrate the initiative for professional development and enhanced performance. The third section communicates our recommendations concerning the allocation of resources to the areas identified in the first two parts. Th is section identifies three specific goals to be achieved by the 1986 Legislature. We hope you will consider our analysis of the problems Florida faces in ensuring appropriate instructional quality for its young people and support our sense af how to alleviate those problems through the judicious use of our pub lic revenues.

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SICNATORIES""

John Gaines Executive Director
Ftori~a~.~n of School Administrators

Steve Metz 4~ Vice President, Governmental A airs Florida Chamber of Commerce

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D. Craig Collins Executive Director Florida Council of 100

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

"';::TR~i:T~acher CompensatiOn W~rkir9Gro'up is an assembly of leaders of nine, , educationoJand business organizations. " Thi:s report provides recommendations concerning the range of issues involved in teacher compensation. What binds us together is a uniform beliefiri the, importance and potf!ntial pub lie education to our children and to our advancement as,a'demecratic:nation"h the face of an ", increasing Iy competit ive' wor Id . situation., .' As our' ~tqte;.strives,\t().∑ improve the, "quality of education available' to: 011 oui, Y'O!J,ng,.peciple, 'we corom(),~IYi,recognize improvement of instructional quality to b~tHe;,,~i~gle most irnp()rtant element of that e ffori. Instruct iona I qua Iity Is a d k~t' fUQct ion 0 f thE!':'; qua lity of.; the teachers meeting our children everyday! ' " '" . " ' '.'.'

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The overriding problem to wh i9h our recommendations are addressed is a critical one: the requirement for Florida to attract and retain more high quality individuals to the teaching profession. Unlike many states, Florida has an elementary and secondary school student population that will continue to grow due to two factors: immigration and birth rate. This requirement of growth comes at a time when teaching has 9ecome a less attractive job option to our best and brightest high school graduates. Put simply, improving the quality of education we can give our young people depends on increasing the attractiveness .of the teaching profession in Florida. , One way we will have to do this is to increase 9Pportunity within the profession for monetary compensation. While we recognize money alone is not the sole reason individuals do or do not enter a teaching career, it is a component of the decision. Neither current entry salaries nor lifetime earning opportunities are sufficient to attract the quality of teachers we require. Across the board increases, alone, however, is not a sufficient solution to ,this problem. While it's true that many current teachers are underpaid for the quality of service they render, monetary incentives as a means of attracting and retaining teachers must be used selectively to assure that the highest quality personnel available are serving our children. What may be needed is a restructuring of our approach to compensation to reflect the reality of market conditions and natural variability of human performance aro initiative. To achieve th is objective, the report proposes nine specific recommendations addressed to the areas of base compensation, incentive compensation, recruitment and professionalism. It also proposes a detailed Professional Teacher Career Development Program. The report itself is brief. Therefore, we do not summarize its programatic proposals here. In general it calls for: market sensitive and professionally competitive levels of base compensation,supplemented by specific, incentive compensation programs' that provide opportunity for a teacher to receive up to an additional one-th1rd of h is or her base pay for special efforts. Such a compensation structure, coupled with effective recruitment efforts and. improvements in school and classroom working conditions"will increase the attractiveness and professionalism of teaching. Appropriate funding of the recommendations proposed will require several years to implement ∑. The Career Development Program' alone is anticipated to

cost $,9o.M,t-ih'its'first-:Y~r', incr~asingto-a- $330M cost in year five and 'Theomerproposalsalso require significant commitments of resources.

, ser i005 resoi) rce': constrciints; :under wh ich the I 986 ,I ~ is la f'Jre js' ,operati ng. However, our fellow.\-citiz~'s)dncfelecte~, representatives r:nu~rrecognii:~ that if we are to continue to"groW' successfUlly,∑Froridafqces.~~ignifieCJhfJii,fra~tructure and public servic$'requi∑rem~r:tt~:.l\∑f'Th~se, reqyire,m~nt~'mQ~e,~r,'ioU,s~ex,qmination and adjustrryenfs of oor, syst~th'of<tax~tiQn n1dndafqry.: We∑als().!J.rg,e:;a∑t~iiewand, ':where appropriate, a'r~drdering' .of ourcurrent'Q/lOca:tion.of reSou.rces~,wHhin the education sector. As revenues increase, si9n.ificant∑ new~...r~sovr~es-:"must be directedto∑our public schools in a manner that enablesour,resc)urce commifmen.ts to become self-renewing as a result of the renewed economic and social well being . ''-thot'resu 1't-s:--frGmitnp rbved educatioria I ou tpu ts~ ..' . Therefore, we propose' a sufficient portion of the revenues generated by revisions in our tax structure and current educational expenditures be established in a trust fund. This trust fund, for the improvement of teacher quality, is to be used to fund local actions consistent with the report's programatic . recommendations. To help ensure increased productivity accompanies these increased expenditures, we recommend a performance-based career development program, with characteristics equivalent to those proposed in our report, be passed by the Legislature this year--with local implementation scheduled, for fiscal' year 198798. However,fhe program must carry assurances of funding during 1987 -88 at the levels sugge,sted as necessary, or it should not be implemented. Underfunded programs will not achieve the objectives we hold for improving the practice and professionalism of teach ing. In addition to appropriately funding incentive programs, baSe teacher compensation must be increased to market sensitive levels sufficient to attract the qUCllity of individuals necessary fo staff Florida'S schools and to meet our enhanced certification standards. Therefore, we propose significant increases in both base teacher compensation and incentive compensation allocated so that after three years of implementation, incentive programs will constitute approximately 10% of our enhanced pool of total compensation dollars. To indicate a commitment to this approach we urge our Legislature to take action th is session to: I. -Fund increases in base compensation this year sufficient to enable our . . -teachers to rece ive -an--average-salary-i ncrease-at-the-Ieve-Is-atta ined--the-----past three years.

"'-?'~d:~};'~}~~~~~~':~:c~o'm~'erl'd'ation{fbr 1986'ha~e been, te~per~ Jl,reflect the

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Fund the Quality Instruction Incentives Trust Fund sufficient to a) meet our obligations to those teachers currently designated as Associate Master Teachers, b) provide a payment of $3;000 to those'who are to be designated Associate Master teachers as a result of th is year's p'rogram procedures; and, c)' provide adequate incentive for' ou( teachers and school boards to continue their participation in . the Merit Schools Program. ii

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~.;:~;~:: P;aSß;dP~rformance-bc:ised 'Career~ Development Program wh ich ensures ;'\d~,\,∑t~af∑ funding available- in 1987-88 will support and motivate full
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of our teachers and local school districts. This commitment is necessary to assure our teacher unions and school boards that their efforfsto develop∑ a viab Ie local program are worthwh ile.

We believe these recommendations for 1986 can be~achievedwithi~ Florida's current tax structure. However, we must reemphasize∑ that the recommendations contained in the report will. require signin<:at1t.oew~,.teJX..resources in future' years. In addition to reviewing our tax sysfem:we';urg~/tK,e LegislatUre to commit any significant new sources of revenues which.shallbeeomecivailable between now and∑ fiscal year 1987-88 to fund the recommendations in this report ∑. The .steps implicit in these recommendations are necessary ones to" take if our pub lie schools are to . continue to make the contribution to Florida's economic growth and development we expect of them. We urge your commitment to these recommendations and to providing the resources necessary to their achievement.

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TABLE OF CONTENtS∑, .∑ '., . :..- ;...

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EXECUTIVE ,SUMMARY'. 4:,ª
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The Problem Being Addressed Funding Sase CompensationIncentives Recru itment Professionalism

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A PROPOSED PROGRAM FOR PROFESSIONAL TEACHER CAREER DEVELOPMENT . Introduction . 'General Principles Program Steps Implementation and Costs PROPOSED FUNDING OF TEACHER COMPENSA T10N AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT APPENDIX Original Statement of the Teacher Compensation Working Group Organizing Principles and Procedures

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RECOMMENDAnoNS TO THE CITIZENS AND GOVERNM~T OF FLORIDA ""y;:~i' CONCERNING lEACI-£R COMPENSATION' "

The Teacher Compensation Workirig'Gro;.,p is' an assembly of leaders of nine educational and businessorgdniiatioris.

We haV~':joi~~d

tocjether to att~mpt a resolution

of the conflicting percePtions and opiniohsconcerriihij~:feach~~'qualit;,and compensation that have been the basis of much dis~gree~en't overstate edGc~tional policy for th~ past severa I years.
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This statement reflects our commonly held beliefs concerning the range of ,issues

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involved in teacher compensation.

What binds us tOgether is a uniform belief in the

importance and potential of public education to our children and to our advancement as a democratic nation in the face of an increasingly competitive world situation. As our

State strives to improve the quality of education available to all our young people we commonly recognize improvement of instructional quality to be the single most important element of that effort. Instructional quality is a direct function of the quality of the teachers meeting our children every day. We believe teacher quality to be relative to many factors: a fair and reasonable compensation schedule, inc luding elements that reward performance; standards for entry to training and to practice; periodic and appropriate evaluation and professional development; opportunities for advancement and additional responsibility; a professional env ironment in wh ich to work. The recommendations that follow are intended to utilize the -policy making role of state government to create a structure within which the characteristics just described are most likely to continue to emerge witf{in Florida's sixty-seven different school districts. While we believe ultimately that educational

problems should be identified and resolved at thegov~rnmentallevel closest to them, (j.e., the local school and district), we recognize th~t the State has'the responsibility to

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staridardS!\.9"d;~,prqVide'~;;~~,opportun~t~∑,f9r;":lOCQIL resp~~~s.
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possible' our recommendations follow such a model. ' . -, . .
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The following pages describe our.
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sense of the most significant problem., facingH~u!=ational.improvement, in F.!orid~'and our
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recC?mmendati,ons for its alleviation. RecC?mfrnenda~iQn,s~.are<Rrese~ted in five categories: l~~ .;..... , 'oj .,_:' . "'." -, ~" ,. _.' .
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funding" . b?se ..~?mpensc;ttion, inc~ntivt!s'r: recrYltm~ryt<,gnd~{proJ~ssi9.?QJi.sPl~'i
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structured and presented as a package to b,~,!rnpt~,mef\ted together as a total program. It
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is the intent oJ this group to deal with the entire employment condition of ttie teacher. Our recommendations reflect this comprehensive approach to what is' a multifaceted problem. '

The Prob lem Being Addressed: The overriding problem to wh ich these recommendatio,ns are addressed is a simp Ie, but critical one: the requirement for Florida to attract and retain more high quality individuals to the teaching profession. Unlike many states, Florida has an elementary

and secondary school student population that will continue to grow due to' two factors: immigration and birth rate. Nationally, our baby boomer's babies are beginning to enter the public schools~ This will result in a tighter market as over one million teachers will be sought to fill new classrooms over the next eight years. multiplied by our annual population growth due to immign?tion. new students were in our schools. teachers it current Iy .need~annually. states. In Florida this effect is This year alone 40,000

Further, Florida produces only about 30% of the The remaining 7~% must be attracted from other

This requirement of growth comes ,at a; time when teaching has be<;.omea less

attractive job option to our best and brightest high school graduates. Increasingly over the past ten to fifteen years, the pool of university students from which ~e drawolJr "'..
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teachers reflects the lower end of the spectrum of academic ability.

Put simply,
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-J,improving the quality of'ed,:,cation we can give our young people depends on increasing
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the attractiveness of the- teaching profession in Florida.
On~ way we will have to do this is to increase the opportunity within the profession

for monetary compensation.
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While." we. recognize mon.ey alont! i~ not the sole reason
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young people do or:, do not enter teaching" ,it is a component ofthe decision. Neither
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curient entry salaries nor lifetime earning opportunitie~,. are, ,sufficient to attract the . . .
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quality of teachers we require.

Across, the board increases alone" however, is not a While it's true that many current teachers are

sufficient solution to this probtem.

underpaid for the quality of service' they render, monetary inc'entives, as a means of attracting and retaining teachers must be used selectively to assure that the highest quality personnel ava'ilable are serving our children. What may be needed is a

restructuring of our appro'ach to c'ompensation to reflect the rea I ity of market con<;l itions and natural variability of human performance following.
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initiative. What we recommend is the

Funding: There are several significant sources of revenue available to the State of Florida should it choose to have the political will to uti lize them. Meeting both the educational

needs of our children and .the infrastructure needs of our growing population require immediate action. We believe it is important for Florida to recognize that our most

significant infrastructure resource is not our roads, schools, jails, or hospitals, but is rather our people. It is our people who will build the Florida of the future. Therefore,'

investments in the growth and development of our people must lead any investment in infrastructure. Investment in compensating those teachers to whom we give primary

responsibility to nurture the conversion of our potential human capital resources - our

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chiid~~n:.;,::t9;>_9Qp-able∑' and productivec'itizen~ must be considered -an infrastructure

investment\~~t~Grely.aS

are the'>ones in physical 'cap-ita' structures∑.

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recommend th~tthe State Leg is iattJre arid - the Governor act to review the current alloCation of resources .Within the' ;ed~cation} se~to~ and -r~o~der' prio~ities where appr6priateaswell' as, wherenec-essary/ t6"oHtain adc:hfj'o~af funding-'frompr~vtousIY underutilized sOurces such as sOle~ 'tax"'and'h6rltesteac( exe'mptions. We specifically

recommend a close examinationoftheeducaticiri~j'jmpo:~t~ ~er'sJ-sthe increased costs of an extended day be conducted by the Florida Legislature. Further, review of other

specific programs concerning their contribution to instructional quality should be ongoing. A sufficient portion of the revenues generated by the recommended' actions should be established in a trust fund. This trust fund, for the improvement of teacher quality, is to be used to fund local actions consistent with the fo lIowing recommendations.

Sase Compensation: Base compensation refers to the salary paid teachers)upon entry to the' profession and throughout their career for the basic daily function of meeting, instructing, and nurturing students and the associated responsibilities. That basic salary should be

professionally competitive aOO market based. 3y that it is meant the salary shou Id be sufficient to attract quality teachers in competition with others who are trying to do

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(professionally competitive) and that it should reflect the general salary levels available locally in other occupational activities to indiv'Iduals of simi lor ab i1ity and preparat,ion (market based). Base compensation is not adequately measured by the use of averages that compare one state and one district to another. Cost of living and taX burdens differ frdm'state'to state: so too do seniority levels of staff of which average salary is a direct function.' As

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a result, av~(agesQlone;do'not reflect the professional competitiveness, of our teacher
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additiciri:t~averagesz

Florida should focus its discussions on the actual range professionals as well as the costs and advantages of

salaries,~~H~blef~itS;teaching

Florida living.

Such an emphasis should be an~ffectjye tecruJtment tool~_especially as
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the other. recommenda,tions contQi"ed herein. areJmRle,Q1en!ed~>:,,'

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The current structure of teaching. and teacher. compensation 'contains a fea∑ture that, wh ile ,an attrac1'ian to some, has ,increasing ly become:1:a neg<l.fi'le factor in recruitment. While many potential teachers are attracted by the ten month employment' , year of teaching, for others it acts to both depress salaries in comparison to what those in other professions can earn and demeans the teacher as a professional as he or she must seek alternative employment to makeends'meet over the summer recess. While many

teachers do not wish to work over the summer months, and ,wh ile' in some districts as many as one-third of our teachers are employed by the distric! over the summer months, for a significant percentage of our teachers the summertime is a period of hardsh ip. ''1e therefore recommend that Florida school districts act to meet existirg educational ,needs, especially those created by increased educational standards, by givina Florida teachers increased ooportunity for 12 month employment. year rourid schooling but rather year round employment. We are not recommending

Schools can utilize additional

personnel time to offer our young people opportunity for both academic enrichment and remedia I programs. The recent increase in academic standards is a necessary part of However, for many young people it creates the need for
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achieving quality education.
addi,tiona~ assistance.

Matching this need with the opportunity to provide teachers a 12,

month income wou Id be beneficial to all. It is to be a voluntary program the purpose of which is to provide opportunity for our

most

talented professionals to focus on the

specific needs of those who can benefit most from the extra attention. Besides being used to offer academic enrichment it can be used for curricu lum pJanl1ing and program

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devel()pmehi;f~~di~,se/ected and
pro fess
The, attractlvE!ness"
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iOnCri\#~i~l'I'Iet:lt~rograinS wi1h paid' Sa larY",",,~2"c, ',,',:

limited cases (i.e., perhaps once every Syears) to; atf~~d/

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sa.laties,.for;',,,new/y,,,enfer ingl':teachers,var ie's:Jcon siderab∑ly

acrossF'lofida' school districts.;:lnI9SS-86

Flo;tda)beg'irtrWng!feocher)salariE!S~rang~~Jf~6;:ri
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$ 14,205 to $19, /7 5. While we may: beab /e~' fofi rro'ur/~'I&ssroomswlfff"~d/I'ege graduates, even at( current salary leve/s, we believe cur studelfts; sHC5tiraQ;etaugt,f6,r'fh6se" whose abilities reflect the upper levels of academic' achievement. Therefore,
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that entry,"Salar'ies:refleet, market conditions such that we are able to reCruit to the profession the numbers of high ability young people we require. Current base salary schedules are structured around the employees' level of education and years of experience., They provide compensation for up to four levels of education and in some cases up to 30 years of experience. The result is an unduly long period of time for a teacher to achieve maximum salary and probably an inappropriate reflection of the value of simple experience over other factors. Therefore, we

recommend a program of incentives to school districts to assist them to comore'ss salary schedules to reflect a 7-10 step experience comoonent covering an 8-12 year span of experience. Opportunities for additional compensation above these levels cou Id come

from cost-of-living adjustments and from financial incentives to reflect the assumption of additional responsibilities or spec ial conditions assoc iated iNith the teach ing

assignment or from financial incentives for exceptional performance.

Incentives: Monetary incentives as a supplement to basic compensation are intended to provide an opportunity for those teachers∑who ,wish to distinguish∑ themselvesirf;some manner beneficial to their employers and students to earn, addition'a/ compensotioi;' fbi 'that effort. Incentive opportunities in teaching should provide'up to anadditional'dne-thi.rd:df

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-Ta teacher's ,ba~
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pay for special efforts.
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Incentives can be used (I) ~ to reward the
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assumption o.f;,certtlincondifions of teaching such as working in a difficult work place or

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teaching subjects. few, are willing orprepar~ to teach;, (2) to reward t~e assumption of additional responsibilities such as participating in the specialized training of new. or
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eva lua ting ?ther teachers"" ~~: devE! lop ing new 9urr iculCl cc:md
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approaches to instruction; and (3) to reward exemplary inqividual or team performa~ce in
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facilitating student growth and academic achievement. The following recommendations are intended to provide a full range' of all three types, of incentive opportunities for Florida teachers to enhance their basic compensation.
(I) Florida faces teacher 'shortages in many subject areas. Foremost among these

are math and science instruction as well as special education.

Soon elementary school

and English teachers may be in short supply. In addition there are specific schools 'Nhich, ∑ due to circumstances of their location, are difficult to appropriately staff. We

,recommend districts recruit teachers to these shortage areas by offering incentives such as placement at levels on the salary schedule in excess of the actual experience of the teacher or as direct cash increments for such service. (2) While the basic compensation schedule must provide an adequate salary for satisfactory teaching performance and workload, there must also be opportunities within the teaching profession for highly motivated individuals to continually find and meet new challenges as they grow professionally. The basic function of teaching is to instruct

students. However, there are other roles teachers also play within the profession as they engage in actions that have impact beyond their own classroom. These ment,oring,
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assisting, evaluating, planning and designing roles can be formalized and financial incentives associated with their successful performance. The result would be aC9.~eer

development program which provides opportunity for the professional and financial growth of a significant percentage of those who choose ,teaching, as;,a Iife~il11e cqreer ∑

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teaching curreriiiy under review within

Legislature~~i>gf.ftce.',of the Governor, and Department' of Education.

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Flo~ida ∑by{~lth~~,∑~/,
These in~olve.

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teacti~r comp~sation, performan~e ev6Iuci't'i~' and ∑cert∑i'fication. We're~omme~d'that
these various structural manner as'to'
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te~ch'inc;:; e~'6f~isi~n'b~ ~66'rdiriat~ 'i~'''~~~h
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r~jn force
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emergen~e'6r a dj~;rsifi~ c~~~er d~~lopm~~t~~og~am
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Which provides' 0 variety of opportunities for teachers "to . achieve new "eve'ls" of
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compensation 'or responsibility.

Additional compensation should be associated with the

actual assumption of additional responsibilities or successful performance. Funds should be available to compensate sufficient professionals to meet real educational needs. The next section of this report describes a performance based Professional Teacher Career Development Program we recommend be enacted into law during th is 1986 legislative session. (3) Beyond incentives for assuming certain conditions and development associated with
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of professional

teaching, there should be available to teachers the

opportun ity to be rewarded for exce iii ng in their teach ing performance. We recommend the continued development of 'performance incentive programs for local districts to adopt as team or individual teacher performance incentives. Locally designed programs shou Id uti lize student growth as the primary criterion for award ing performance incentives. her school. The school principal is accountable for the educational outcomes of his or We stress that our concept of school management views the principa'i as The

responsible for developing and utilizing teacher leadersh ip and professionalism.

principal should be a leader an:! facilitator who emphasizes the participationtof t~achers in a team effort to manage the school. This includes the appropriate utiJizationo'f a

range of possible approache~ to peer input in the performance evaluation i~'lc'ludin9the delegation of th is' function. The principal must be accountab Ie for the final performahCe incentive decision an:! for the results of that decision on the future performance df:tne school.

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Developi;,g:::,~~{ appropri(Jte compensation structure is, a necessary condition", to
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improving Florida's abi Iity to effectivC!ly, recruit the quqJityC)f in~tructional personnel
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our children must have. However there
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elements of.. an:'eJfec,tive,recruitment 4 -' "
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program that must also be implemented or enhanced in order~that'florid(]~sability to
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compete in the ever tighter, teacher supply, market of the I 990s will be commensurate with its needs. As the current decade draws to a close, Florjda has remaining a brief opp'ortunity to attract experienced teachers from those states that are still experiencing declining enrollments in the upper grades. An immediate and concrete effort should be made to
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to Florida high quality experienced teachers from the northeast and north central

regions of the country. To increase school distric'ts' ability to do this we recommen'd the Legislature take action to I) permit school boards to pay moving excenses for out of 'state teachers gualified in critical shortage areas, 2) clarify the ability of school boards to pay for interview related travel and expenses of prospective employees and personnel officials on recruitment ,trips, 3) allow experienced
out~f-state

teachers to Durchase

retirement credit in the Florida retirement system for their previous excerience., The Legislature should review the Florida retirement system in its entirety and amend the system by updating benefits that will retain and attract teachers. We also encourage

local school districts to consider providing full salary schedule credit for out of state experience as a means of recruiting experienced teachers. While selectively recruiting experienced teachers will enhance instructional

quality, the majority of our future need for teachers will be met by the employment of inexperienced or new teachers.. The key, to quality enhancement,. therefore, is to increase .the quality of the pool of young people attracted to teaching as

q, career. In

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univerSity students' opportunities:' for-" reducing' 'educational "costs<'" through: teaching se rv ice~'Th'e\lnfi'a~truc ttr~fo r~Sur far

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un'iv~(si t~r)sY'si~~ .i$'~t'fflbiienf\ib;: ~Ihr'ida 'to produce

rn~excesS ofth~ 30% Of its te~ching;:p~rsonn~I'~'~~~:;itcG?ir~'i,t;,y:~i~du~'~~~ 'N~~~~'~t

increase the ,vigor with which we. recruit 'o.ur best ahd'brightest y~ng people to ,the teach ing profession.

Professionalism Compensation is only one component of attracting and retaining high quality classroom teachers. Those leaving teach ing before retirement leave for reasons of A simi lar situation ex ists

working cond itions as well as for reasons of compensation.

-concerning the recruitment of young people to teaching as a career. 80th the workplace environment as well as the current role and responsibilities of of teachers require review and adjustment. Teachers spend a great deal of time doing

work wh ich others with less costly training and experience cou Id easi Iy perform. These activities take away from the educational progress of our youth. The support faci lities
provid~d

for our teachers in the form of quiet workspace, phones, desks, etc. are

sometimes incompatible with the professional role we ask them to fill in preparing our next generation. 'Our review of Florida's current status concerning professionalism aJ1d working conditi'ons will continue during the_ next year. While several of the recommendations in this document will improve the professionalis~ of the teaching role,ther~:re";;'ain many other relevant aspects of that role to review~ We anticipate wOrK'in9:;on~'th6Se,cissues

prior to the 1987 legislative session and), therefore, make this time.

nO specific r~~'ommendatiohS at

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A PROPOSED PROGRAM FOR PROFESSIONAL. lEACl-ER.CAREERDEVELOPMENT .

Introduction The purpose of th is program is to provide structure, opportunity and. incentive for current' and prospective teachers to enhance their capabi lities, practice, status and compensation throughout a Ii fetime career as a teacher. The program seeks to retain and attract high quality individuals to the profession of teaching by offering opportunity for change, growth anq development within the teaching career.

Genera I Prine ip les The program is to be designed and developed according to traditional employeremployee practices at the local school district level within guidelines and standards developed and reviewed at the state level. are: participation will be optional for both individual school districts and individual teachers with in d istr ic ts. program specifics will be loca lIy negotiated through Chapter 447 F .S. provisions
~ith

The general concepts guiding the program

the exception of impasse procedures

the program must be

mutually agreeable. all proposed programs will be reviewed and approved by the State Department of Education for compliance with state guidelines. guidelines and the program approval process will be reviewed∑by an advisory panel of educators and private sector participants, all of whom are experienced in emp loyee development issues.

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local "programs: will " ..
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b~. funded through monies appropriated to the Quality

. Instruction~Incentjves:T'ri.Jsf∑
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Fund;: F~rid~'~ilf- b~"~a'IIocated to districts by
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formula taking intd 'account' size of staff"andplc:icement on career development steps. Allocated funds not utilized for this program will remain in the trust.

Program Steps Each approved program will provide for four career development steps. teachers are not required to participate in the program in any manner. Current

Once a local However,

program is approved, all new, inexperienced teachers must participate.

decisions to advance on steps III and IV are strictly voluntary; The four steps and their characteristics are:

I. In tern Three year program component - I year optional extension Compensated according to district salary schedule Serves on annual contract SUbject to conditions of beginning teacher program and initial certification requ irements May be given less than full time teaching load for at least first year and will receive clo.se supervision and monitoring throughout step Follows alternative guidelines, requ'irements and procedures depe,f1ding' upon whether graduate of college of education or other bachelor level.program Does not receive any salary incentive; however, program ∑∑funds include

resources for those districts providing released time', inservice, etc.;:

II. Teacher. ~,. Compensated according to district salary schedule Holds apprOpriate teaching certificate

III. Professional Teacher Has served a tota I of five years in level I and/or II Has successfully passed, test 0.1 subject matter knowledge {relevant to knowledge necessary to teaching role rather than a brood survey of field} - test administered statewide and cut off establjshed statewide at level required for initial certification Has been designated a professional teacher as a result of: a) score on series of performance observations by qualified observer using reliable, valid, performance observation instrument based upon sound educational principles and contemporary research in effective

-

educational practice b) peer inpu t princ ipal input

c)

Design, content and scoring scheme of vehicles for a, b and c are subject to local. negotiation. However, item c must contribute at least 1/3 of total score required for designation; an appeal process must be a component of each loca I program. Additional requirements sU,ch as specific prior school ser:vice, or '
t

review of student' achievement data may be included subject to local negotiation.

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CQJ:'I1pensoted according to district salary schedule plus addition'al'saiary

Must renew designation everyfhree years' according to provisions for initial designation with excep.tion of subject test, which will be required every third
renewaJ~

Designation is

transfer~ble amo'~gth~'stat~'s67:sCho~' :df~~~"i~~sas'it

is earned

through comp liance with state approved guidelines.

IV. Senior Professional Teacher ~ Has served a total of three years at level III Has been designated a senior professional teacher, quali fied in one of three specialties: a) Professional Teacher Consultant (PTC): Able to demonstrate superior

classroom teaching as well as coordinate curriculum development, design strategies for improved student performance, analyze instructional

methods within school for effects on learning, assist in classroom research, -conduct curricu lum developmen t projects, etc. b) Professional Teacher Mentor (PT'v\): Ab Ie to demonstra te superior

classroom teaching as well as serve as instructional coordinator in specific subject areas, serve as peer advisor in beginning teacher program, p Ian and' imp lement inservice training, supervise apprentice teachers, coordinate instructional development programs aJ;)d research projects in conjunction with PTe personnel, etc ∑

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..
ct Professional Demonstration Teacher (PDT): Able to demonstrate

superior classroom.. teaching with classroom always open to observation by any other
t~acher:for

purposes. of learni(lgtechniques, etc.

Has been designated a senior professional .. teacher in.onaor three areas as result of meeting following. a)
requirements:""(~.~.\,;y).,,,.

Educational; masters in field or. masters out of field,.p)us.1 S∑cred it hours of infield courses, (or special requiremEmts for non-degreed vocation'al personnel to be developed by DOE)

b)

Objective Scores: PTe cand idates must demonstrate subject area test score in upper th irty percent of possible test scores. PTM candidates must demonstrate performance observation score in upper thirty percent of possible observation scores. PDT candidates must demonstrate upper thirty percent scores on either performance observation or sub ject test

c)

Othen I) peer input concerning suitability to render designated services; 2) supervisor input concerning suitabi lity to render designated services as well as performance progress of students instructed over past three years; 3) review of all data for compliance with standards by a state level professional board of specialists to be established in general instructional areas.

'Holding endorsement qualifies te<l~her for additional compensation geyond the' basic salary schedule and the' professional teacher incentive in return for rendering endorsed services ∑. The level of additional compensation for 10 month. teaching service plus special responsibilities, as well as possible II thor 12th month employment, will be determined locally according to local educational need and bargaining cgreement.

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Des~igri~t1on: 'is,transferrable'among :th~ state's.. 67 schOoI;:districts as it is

ea~r\~'thrOUgh corrip nCincew i th 'state'approvecfguide lines∑.
(NOTE:)
Procedutes:\afi'thfs':: :Ievel oec'dreer"develop'ment' program preserve traditional role ofprofessio;,s∑to'::setstandard$:;;for;∑~&dv:ancemenramong their ranks and of managementit<f hir~Fcind termii;afC!r';p:iO:f~~idrfar personnel according to local'criter'ia'arid 'need.' advancementde.signation

This"'ls;bccomplish~ oy divorcing
decision.

from' employmenf:' and compensation

Standards for designation wi" be developed at state level over three year period preceeding implementation of this step. Employment requirements and service specifications will be developed as component of local plan. There is no limit placed on numbers of personnel that can qualify for senior professional designation. However, percentages of personnel necessary

to perform these functions 'Nould likely be no more than about 15% of teach ing force.

Imp lementation and Costs Implementation of this program should begin upon its passage by the legislature: however, it should not proceed with such haste that participants are'T1isinformed, mistreated or alienated. Therefore we urge that school year 1986-87 be devoted to the negotiation and development of local programs in our 67 school districts. Year I of the program's actual implementation therefore will be' 1987-88. Regardless, districts and

teachers'must view the State's commitment to: the program as' reci and". therefore, significant commitments be made this' year' (1986) to provide assurance that the Year I startup wi" be adequately funded. participation by all
districts~

Additional funding in Year"'2'sHoUld'permit full funding should be at a level where all eligible

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-17 teacherscanrnoveto Step' III. By Year, 4,; funds shou Id. include resources for .initial Step
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IV teachers∑. The:program should be at full funding by Year S.

Funding levels should assume:. Step' I: a significant percentag~:,..,o.f intern teachersmay .. ,be. :relea$ed.; from teaching duties a reasonable. portion of time for training:"and other related activities. ' Step II: no cost Step III: an incentive payment of $2,500 per designee plus employ~~ costs of social security,. retirement payments, workers' compensation and

unemployment insurance for a total of approximately $3,000. Funds should be sufficient for all qualified teachers to be able to receive this level of award. Step IV: A payment of $5,000 for designated service.~, plus employer costs of social security, r"etirement, workers' compensation and unemployment

insurance for a total of approximate Iy $6,000.

Additional funds in other
~rogram

programs shou Id provide for II th and 12 th month service.

funding

shall be available so that approximately 15% of teaching force may be compensated for such service. The following matrix indicates likely levels of required funding (in millions of 1986 dollars) over a five year developmental period by career development step. Year Year Year

.lli2.
I

1
15 7S 90

115 150 165

1
20 210 230

Year 4

Year

25

2.
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30 210

11 III
IV Total:

210

!!2.
270

.2Q.
330

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programshdi~~J:)een deVeloped~ the' JegislCifureshould commit $90Mto fUnd the Career" ' .
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Development'~;rogram, effective July I, 1987. In the event $90M is not appropriated by
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the 1987 legislature, the Career Development Program

~ouldautomatidally

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I ,1987i'∑ Tn is will encOurage andii motivate' schoof"dlstricts( C1Md :teQche'~~~ unions to negotiatel6calcareer devel'opmentprograms~ durfng(\i+H~r comihg' yeOr<;';ith reasonable assurance that necessary resources to implement the program during: '9S7~88will be available.

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In the preceeding pages we have.. put. forth a series of recommendations concerning ..... .......
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Florida's teacher compensation policies. Appropriate .fundin,gof,theSe recommendations ,., ~" '~',

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will require several years to implement.
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Our recommendations for 1986 have been
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tempered to reflect the serious resource constraints under which ft:t,e 1986 Legislature is . , . operating. However, we urge our fellow citizens and elected representatives to

recognize that if we are to continue to grow successfully, Florida faces significant infrastructure and public service r~q0trements.
,

These requirements make serious

examination and adjustments of our system of taxation mandatory. We urge that such an
~xamination

begin

immediat~ly ~ndthat

beginning in the 1987-88 fiscal year, the budget

process reflect changes necessary to increase our state revenues." As revenues increase, significant new resources must be allocated to our pub lic schools so that our resource commitments become self-renewing as a
re~ult

of the improved economic and social well

being that will result from improved educational outputs. To help ensure .increaSed productivity accompanies increased educational

expend itures, we recommend a performance-based career development program, such as that proposed in our report, be passed by the Leg is lature th is year-with adequate funding scheduled to begin fiscal year 1987-88. In addition, base teacher compensation must be increased to market sensitive levelS. sufficient to attract the quality of individuals necessary to staff Florida's schools and to meet our enhanced certifrcation . . f standards. What we propose is a significant increase in both base teacher compensation and incentive compensation allocated so, that after:. three years of implementation incentive programs will constitute approximately 10% of our enhanced p.oolof total compensation dollars.

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effectively 'in th~fmQr,ketPlace for quality, teachers, we must continue to reverse that deC lin~;-> At the sOmetime,

we ihust'dev'elop"incen'ti've pr09rams~' to rev/arti' oUr most
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Fund increases in' base compensat(on th isyeqr suffiC'ient ~~able'our teachers to receive_average salary increases:atthe level,S attained' the past three y,ears. . ..
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Fund the Quality Instruction Incentives Trust Fund suffici~nt to a) meet our obligations to those teachers currently designated as Associate 'Moster teachers, b) provide a poyment of $3,000 to those who are to be designated Associate Master teachers as a result of th is year's program procedures, and c) provide adequate, incentive for our teachers and school boards to continue their participation in the Merit Schools program. ' Pass a performanced based' Career Development program which includes assurances that funding available in 1987-88 will be sufficient to support and motivate full participation of our teachers and local school districts. This commitment is necessary to assure our teacher unions and school boards tliat their efforts to develop a viable local program are worthwhile. (Seepages 1618 for funding requirements)

3.

'lYe believe these recommendations for 1986 can be ach ieved with in Florida's current tax structure. However, we must reemphasize that the recommendations

contained in this document will require significant new tax resources in future years. In addition to reviewing our tax system, we urge the Legislature to commit any significant new sourc~s of revenues which s,all become available between n'ow and fiscal year 198788 to fund the recommendations contained in th'is repor'l'.

The steps imp licit in these

recommenda'tions' are necessary ones to take if' our public schools are to c;:ontinue 'to make ,the contribution to Florida's economic growth and development we expeCt of them. We urge your c'ommitmentto the~; recommendations and to providing the
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resources necessary to their ach ievement.

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