June 1, 2011

When the Corporate Takeover of Education is Complete, School Employees Will See Reductions in Wages and Benefits and the Elimination of Pensions Just Like Their Private Sector Counterparts (the Charter School Movement is Really About Funding Privately-controlled Schools with Public Money)

Charter School Salaries Lower

The average public school teacher salary in Northwest Allen County Schools, Southwest Allen County Schools and Fort Wayne Community Schools was $49,987, while the average teacher salary in Fort Wayne’s three charter schools was $28,584.

Averages included salaries of all teachers, aside from temporary substitutes, and did not factor in wages from East Allen County Schools because of how the district organizes its data.

Charter school leaders said budget constraints make it difficult to match traditional public school salaries. Nevertheless, they said, teachers are drawn to charters out of an appreciation of their mission, a love for the kids they serve, and a desire for autonomy not granted in traditional public school environments.

Critics of charter school wages, however, said teachers deserve more money for their work.

Charter schools are public schools that are free from many of the regulations that govern traditional public schools; most do not have teachers unions.

Indiana is likely to have more charter schools in coming years now that both the Indiana Senate and House have passed bills allowing dozens more entities to sponsor charters. Currently, only the mayor of Indianapolis, six public universities and school districts are able to do so.

According to a 2010 study by Vanderbilt University, charter schools tend to have higher teacher turnover rates than traditional schools. They also tend to have less-experienced, and therefore lower-paid, teachers.

Locally, teachers at FWCS had 14 years of experience on average, compared to five years or less at the city’s charter schools. Those numbers are from the 2008-09 school year, the latest available on the Indiana Department of Education’s website.

Supporters contend that charter schools allow for more innovative teaching techniques and give administrators more freedom to reward and fire teachers based on their performance. Allen County has three charter schools: Imagine Schools on Broadway, Imagine MASTer Academy and Timothy L. Johnson Academy.

Russ Simnick, president of the Indiana Public Charter Schools Association, said charter schools aren’t able to offer high salaries because of the way their budgets are structured.

While public school districts have separate funds and can raise property taxes to pay for transportation and capital projects, he said, charter schools must rely solely on their general fund budgets. Paying employee salaries, he said, takes up a major portion of that fund.

“Sometimes decisions have to be made to fix something in the building, like a roof, and that comes out of the same pool of money that salaries come from,” he said.

Peaks vary widely

According to The Journal Gazette’s analysis, the highest-paid traditional public school teacher in Allen County made about $49,000 more in 2010 than the highest-paid charter school teacher.

Wayne High School teacher Gregg Taylor was the highest-paid, earning $90,924, while Timothy L. Johnson teacher and curriculum coach Carrie Drudge, who earned $41,635, was the highest-paid teacher in a charter school.

FWCS teachers have a base salary cap of $63,055, but they can earn more if they are involved in coaching or other activities and have obtained additional credit hours of education beyond a master’s degree.

That’s the case with Taylor, who is a club adviser, coach and department head, and receives extra pay for college courses and working with students at home.

“For a guy like me, I’ve got to work the extra stuff to get the money,” he said, adding that he enjoys all of his work.

Drudge, who has been with Timothy L. Johnson since its start nine years ago, said she never fretted about her compensation, even when she first joined the school and earned a salary in the low $30,000s.

“I don’t work here for my paycheck. I work here for my kids,” said Drudge, 36. “I’m getting paid to do what I love, so I think that I’m more than fairly compensated.”

Simnick said responses like Drudge’s are common among charter school teachers and leaders. Teachers are drawn to charters because they have more freedom in getting students to learn and because they love the mission of the school, he said.

“I’ve never heard a teacher complain about pay,” he said.

Indiana State Teachers Association President Nate Schnellenberger, however, thinks teachers have a right to complain. Without the protections of unions, he said, charter school teachers are often underpaid – a trend that leads to high turnover rates.

“No one goes into teaching to become rich,” he said. “At the same time, (teachers) should be able to expect a reasonable salary and benefit structure that allows them to focus on their profession and not have to work another job to pay the bills.”

Turnover not issue

The Vanderbilt study, which used data from the National Center for Education Statistics 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey, found that 47 percent of charter teachers who left their schools on their own accord did so because they were frustrated by their working conditions.

Western Michigan University professor Gary Miron, who evaluated charter school pay scales and attrition rates in six states, said it’s possible charter school teachers use their charter school experience as a steppingstone to move to public school districts where they earn higher salaries and benefits.

Simnick and other charter school advocates, however, argue that relatively high turnover rates might reflect the fact that charter school leaders are empowered to dismiss poor teachers.

Timothy L. Johnson school leader Steve Bollier said high teacher turnover hasn’t been a problem in his school. He tries to keep his teaching staff content, he said, by talking openly about budget concerns and trying to create a positive work environment.

“You want to create a work environment where people want to come to work,” he said. “So we go out of our way to create an atmosphere where people feel engaged, empowered and (have) a sense of connection to the mission. There’s a similar feeling here of people who go into the Peace Corps and those types of services.”

In general, The Journal Gazette’s analysis found that local charter school leaders’ salaries more closely mirrored the salaries of area principals than those of area superintendents.

Bollier, who in 2010 oversaw a school of about 230 students, was the top charter school earner, making $97,500 – about $97,000 less than FWCS Superintendent Wendy Robinson.

Imagine MASTer Academy Principal Jim Huth, who oversaw about 766 students, was right behind Bollier, earning $91,250 in 2010.

“A lot of these people are the founders of the school,” Simnick said. “If you are doing something you love, pay isn’t the main factor.”

Teachers Won’t Get Tenure, But Charter Schools Will

Retirement is usually packaged with salaries. If the district is controlling salaries, retirement and benefits usually follow. If separated, then the charter school is left to deal with benefit and retirement packages for all its employees. Teachers who work in charter schools do so at their own risk; they are not guaranteed the ability to make contributions to current retirement funds. Charter schools in most states, however, have the option of using the state teachers' pension system. - The Charter School Roadmap, September 1998

March, 28 2011

Orlando Sentinel - Teachers in Florida will have no job security under the merit pay bill that Gov. Rick Scott signed into law last week, but charter schools can get 15 year guaranteed contracts under legislation in the works.

And both will have to do a really good job to earn their contracts – teachers for one year and charters for 15.

The House Education Innovation committee this afternoon approved changes to charter school law that would allow for creation of high-performing charter school systems. A charter operation with three or more successful schools could set up others around the state without jumping through as many hoops with local school boards as charter applicants do now.

A school board would have to present “clear and convincing evidence” that an applicant should be denied, a measure that opponents said is much too high and would give the charter operations free rein to come in anywhere and set up a school. District school boards, as now, still would be left holding the bag to clean up a mess if anything goes wrong with the charter. Think Imani charter school in Orlando,where kids didn’t have books or computers this year and finances are scrambled.

But what really ticks off Chris Ott is the favoritism shown charters over teachers.

Ott, a kindergarten teacher from Alachua County, took a day of his spring break to drive to Tallahassee and testify before the committee today that the proposal is unfair. Highly effective charters get 15 years contracts so they can plan their lives and build schools facilities, committee members pushing the bill said. Highly effective teachers will get one year contracts- and presumably apartment leases for same.

A version of the bill giving charters more rights comes before a Senate committee Wednesday.

Read more here

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