After the School Board approved the new teacher contract, we learned that the contract provides for pay raises for teachers who are rated unsatisfactory. How did this happen?
Public concerned about new teacher contract
At their meeting on 1-20-09 the School Board approved the Early Bird contract agreement with the teachers union for the next 4 years. There was much concern and dissatisfaction expressed by the public at the meeting due to the lucrative contract which was being proposed in uncertain economic conditions during a severe recession. The Board rejected the publics concerns and approved the contract that night.
Large Automatic Pay Raises ?
One of the issues raised by the public before the Board meeting on 1-20-09 was that the teachers appeared to receive large automatic pay raises every year because they are given a “step increase” on the salary scale every year in addition to the percentage increase given by the School Board each year. The School Board was quick to state in their meetings that these raises were not automatic because the teachers needed to receive a Satisfactory evaluation in order to get them. The Board also posted this response on their website (www.gvsd.org) in answer to a question regarding automatic pay raises. Here is the question and response from their website:
Is it true that teachers get automatic pay raises every year and that those raises are not tied to an evaluation.
No. Teachers must acquire a satisfactory performance evaluation in order to advance on the salary schedule. The evaluation process in GreatValley is a formal process, conducted throughout the year. Teachers without a satisfactory rating at the end of the year do not advance on the salary schedule.
So, the Board stated that raises are NOT automatic.
What happens to teachers who are Unsatisfactory?
After this response from the Board, one of our members sent a question to the Board’s website which asked if an unsatisfactory teacher received the % increase given by the Board to the entire salary schedule even though they do not receive a step increase. This question was sent on 1-18-09, which was 2 days before the Board meeting at which the public could comment before the Board voted. This question was not answered or posted until 1-26-09, which was 6 days after the meeting.
Here is the answer that came 6 days after the Board meeting at which they approved the contract:
You state that teachers who are rated unsatisfactory do not get a step increase. Do they receive the percentage increase for their step that is added to all the steps, since the salary schedule for the next year is automatically raised by a percentage each year?
It is correct that teachers who do not receive a satisfactory rating do not advance on the salary schedule. For example, if the teacher is on Step 2, Column A of the salary schedule, she would remain on that same step the following year. However, the following year's salary schedule does show an increase at that step and the teacher would get that increase.
So, everyone gets an Automatic Pay Raise, even unsatisfactory teachers
So, despite originally saying that teachers do not get an automatic pay raise, the School Board then acknowledged that taxpayers are paying for pay raises for teachers who are even rated Unsatisfactory. Under the contract just approved by the School Board, this would mean that an unsatisfactory teacher will get a 3.1% increase in pay the next year.
While many of us are either losing our jobs, getting no pay increases, taking pay cuts, losing our benefits, or losing our investments, the Great Valley School Board is rewarding unsatisfactory teachers with our tax money via pay raises for the next 4 years.
How does that improve the education of our children when the School Board rewards unsatisfactory teachers with a pay raise? How does that provide incentive to our good teachers to continue to excel?
Double Talk
To make all of this even worse, it appears that the School Board tried to conceal this fact when questioned about the automatic pay raises. In an attempt to quell the protests over large automatic pay raises, they parsed their answer carefully to make it appear there were no automatic pay raises for unsatisfactory teachers. It was not until a probing question was asked that they answered the question truthfully about the raises for even unsatisfactory teachers. However, they conveniently waited until after the Board voted to answer it. This behavior is very disturbing to say the least.
The Public and the Teachers Deserve Better
- The Great Valley School Board has not demonstrated any fiscal responsibility with this extremely lucrative contract which will lead to significant tax increases and budget problems in the future for the District, the taxpayers, and the teachers.
- Additionally, it is apparent that in order to stave off criticism from the public regarding this contract, the School Board did not clearly answer the public’s questions and they failed to be straightforward regarding the terms of the contract.
