Wednesday, February 8, 2012
A great teacher in every classroom
We are working to create an improved teachers' contract that expands equity, gives principals greater flexibility, invests in teacher training and allows us to extend the school day for students -- all while raising salaries and without forcing deep cuts elsewhere. Here is where things stand.
President Obama visited BPS TechBoston Academy because it’s getting results. Four out of five students live near the poverty line, but the graduation rate is 20 points higher than the district average. Class days are long. Expectations are high. Teachers have more professional development, they are held to tougher standards, they work together as a team — and students are successful.
BPS is seeking a new contract with the Boston Teachers Union to ensure all students can succeed.
Our goals and proposed strategies are aligned with the Acceleration Agenda -- our ambitious student-focused plan to improve academic quality, increase graduation rates and close achievement gaps. The contract expired in August, 2010. To negotiate a new one, BPS and the Boston Teachers Union have met in more than two dozen bargaining sessions.
The current contracted is outdated and cumbersome. It doesn’t allow teachers, principals or administrators the flexibility we need to implement all the things we know about creating and sustaining great schools. The plan we have proposed will put students first by investing in talented teachers and supporting good teachers so they become great.
What's in our proposal?
Read an introduction from Dr. Carol R. Johnson, BPS Superintendent
1. We’re calling for a longer school day and more professional development time for teachers.
- Our students spend less time in class and our teachers have less professional development time than almost any district in the nation.
- Our teachers currently work a 6 or 6 1/2 hour school day. This would extend their day by one hour -- time our best teachers are already putting in.
2. We’re calling for a streamlined evaluation system that will help good teachers become great and make sure students are learning.
- We use MCAS as one measure of student progress, and we should also use it to measure ourselves. New state regulations require the use of student growth data as a significant portion of a teachers’ evaluation -- and within that, a blend of students in a teacher's classroom and whole-school growth would be considered.
- The new teachers’ contract must align with state requirements, launching this year in our 11 Turnaround Schools and in all BPS schools in the 2012-2013 school year.
3. We want our principals and headmasters to have a say in who teaches in their schools and how classes are scheduled to better serve students.
- We hold principals and headmasters accountable for student performance in their school. They should have a greater say in picking the teams of teachers they work with.
- This year alone, the contract required BPS to administratively place 144 teachers in classrooms even if they had never met their new principal.
4. We believe all teachers should be rewarded for results and for taking on leadership opportunities, but raises should not be automatic.
- Evaluations, feedback from parents and students, and professionalism in the classroom should be expected, not optional. Excellence should be recognized and rewarded. With this new contract and through enhanced professional development, BPS will create a professional path for teachers to encourage and support excellence through targeted training and career ladders.
What is the BTU asking for?
- Cost-of-living increases totalling 10.3 percent by September 2012, on top of a 15 percent salary increase teachers since 2008.
In 2008, BPS teachers earned an average salary of $70,691.
Today, average salary is $81,633.
Under the BTU proposal, paychecks would jump 10.3% by September 1, 2012, increasing average salary to at least $90,060 in just one year, not including planned step and lane increases totalling $8.3 million per year.
Boston's teachers earn higher average salaries than nearly any other district in the state. According to the most recent data, only teachers in Sherborn, Dover and Concord-Carlisle earn more (and each of those districts has fewer than 100 teachers. Boston has more than 4,000.)
The average salary of a Boston charter school teacher is $59,000. These schools generally have much longer days than BPS schools and teachers have fewer benefits.
BPS has a better plan to protect teachers' salaries, benefits and bargaining rights while leveling the playing field in every school.
- Our plan would increase salaries more gradually -- 5.1 percent through FY14, in addition to planned step and lane increases of about $8.3 million per year for current teachers. This is fair to our teachers while allowing our schools to spend limited dollars in ways that enhance quality teaching, close achievement gaps and ensure equity in every school.
Grassroots groups have formed to advocate for a teachers' contract that puts students' needs above adults. Among them:
In the news
"Sticker stock for schools"
Boston Herald, January 5, 2012
"City, teachers far apart on pay-raise issue"
Boston Globe, January 3, 2012
"Old school thinking"
Boston Globe, December 8, 2011
"Schools contract talks hit snag"
Boston Globe, October 24, 2011
"On charter time"
Boston Globe, September 28, 2011
"Charters up, BTU stalls"
Boston Herald, September 17, 2011
"Teachers should get with charter reality"
Boston Globe, September 16, 2011
"All is oddly quiet on Boston's labor front"
Boston Globe: August 20, 2011
"Unions, get on board with schools"
Boston Globe: May 6, 2011
"The hopeful state of black Boston"
Boston Globe: July 26, 2011
"Task Force: Mass. evaluation system in need of reform"
WBUR Radio, March 22, 2011
"Union president defends teacher pay system"
WBUR Radio, January 18, 2011
"TechBoston hums in Obama's wake"
Boston Globe: March 20, 2011
Resources
BPS and BTU Far Apart on Salary Plans
Boston Municipal Research Bureay, January, 2012
Charter Schools Set to Expand in Boston
Boston Municipal Research Bureau, September, 2011
The Real Cost of the Contract
Boston Municipal Research Bureau, January, 2011
Human Capital in the Boston Public Schools
National Council on Teacher Quality report requested by BPS (the BTU chose not to participate in this study)
BTU contract package
June, 2010
From the Superintendent
"Labor Day Means Back to School"
BPS This Week newsletter, September 6, 2011
BTU contract update
Letter to families, April 15, 2011
