Teacher Issues Subcommittee Recommendations

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Teacher Issues SubcommitteeRecommendations

• Governors Task Force on Educational Excellence
• March 30, 2004

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Teacher Issues Subcommittee Charge

• Study and make recommendations on how to improve
  the states ability to attract, recruit, train
  and retain high quality teachers so that every
  child and every classroom has a highly qualified
  teacher, including ways to increase compensation
  to attract our best young students to the
  profession, keep our experienced teachers in the
  profession, and align our best teachers with the
  toughest challenges.

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Subcommittee Findings

• Wisconsin has a high quality teaching force, the
  future of which is threatened by the current
  compensation structure and the lack of resources
  invested in the recruitment and retention of high
  quality teachers.
• The current QEO law, traditional teacher salary
  grid, and rapidly increasing health insurance
  costs have encouraged the maintenance of the
  status quo and provide no incentives to improve
  pupil learning.
• Rising health insurance costs have contributed to
  stagnating salaries, reflected in a 35.6
  increase in fringe benefits costs over the past
  five years compared to a 9.4 increase in average
  salaries.

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• (Findings, continued)
• DPIs implementation of a new teacher licensing
  system (PI-34), based on the acquisition of
  knowledge and skills, provides a new way to think
  about teacher compensation.
• While the supply of teacher candidates is
  generally adequate, it masks recruitment problems
  for small rural and highly urbanized districts,
  and creating a teaching force reflecting the
  diversity of Wisconsins student population.
• The number of teachers retiring is expected to
  increase significantly over the next few years.

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• (Findings, continued)
• To achieve a truly diverse teaching corps,
  Wisconsin must graduate more students of color
  from Wisconsin high schools and the University of
  Wisconsin.
• Teacher retention, especially in isolated rural
  and large urban districts, is a bigger problem
  than teacher recruitment.
• The subcommittees recommendations focused on
  three major areas Compensation/QEO, Teacher
  Recruitment and Teacher Retention.

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Teacher Subcommittee Recommendations

• QEO/Compensation
• The subcommittee reached consensus on 6
  principles, but not on an implementation
  strategy.
• 1. The QEO law should be replaced with a system
  that both
• teachers and administrators agree will
  encourage teachers
• to further develop their teaching skills.
• 2. Linking teacher salary increases to acquiring
  instruction-
• specific knowledge and skills better promotes
  pupil learning
• than a system based exclusively on length of
  service and
• credits earned.
• 3. Incentives should be available for collective
  bargaining
• agreements that implement a knowledge and
  skills-based
• compensation system improving pupil learning.

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• (QEO/Compensation principles, continued)
• 4. School health insurance costs must be
  addressed so that paying for fringe benefits does
  not prevent needed improvements in teacher
  salaries, or become too burdensome for districts
  and taxpayers. The goal is to reduce health care
  costs, maintain health care quality and allocate
  savings into salaries or other improvements to
  the educational environment.
• 5. PI-34 was a necessary and important first step
  to improving pupil learning, but work needs to
  continue, in Wisconsin and nationally, to develop
  a system that allows teachers, administrators and
  policymakers to measure gains in pupil learning
  and accurately assess the value added by public
  schools.

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• (QEO/Compensation principles, continued)
• 6. Districts, especially low-enrollment
  districts, should explore consolidating services,
  including administrative and instructional
  services, and consider joint collective
  bargaining.
• Estimating the annual cost of implementing
  these principles is not possible.

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General Recruitment Recommendations

• 1. Establish a statewide teacher cadet program,
  to provide interested high school students with a
  year-long survey course, and related activities,
  of the teaching profession.
• Estimated Annual Cost 400,000
• 2. Encourage the expansion of future teachers
  clubs, and distributive education (work-study)
  and youth apprenticeship-type programs that
  expose high school students to the teaching
  profession.
• Estimated Annual Cost Unknown

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• (Recruitment recommendations, continued)
• 3. Create a state-funded forgivable loan program
  with a required match from the college for
  undergraduates or graduate students who agree to
  teach in high need schools. Seek private sector
  support for the match.
• Estimated Annual Cost 312,500 (125 students _at_
  2,500)
• 4. Encourage public and private colleges along
  with private business to collaborate on expanding
  alternative licensure programs (e.g., MTEC) for
  adults interested in pursuing a teaching career.
• Estimated Annual Cost Unknown

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Diversity-Related Recruitment Recommendations

• 1. Create a separate category under the Minority
  Precollege Scholarship program for students who
  participate in eligible precollege programs
  related to careers in teaching.
• Estimated Annual Cost 1 million (2,500 students
  _at_ 400)
• 2. Create a new minority teacher forgivable loan
  program for undergraduate teacher education
  students attending UW-Milwaukee. UWM should
  continue to develop as the state center for urban
  teacher education.
• Estimated Annual Cost 250,000 (100 students _at_
  2,500)

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• (Diversity recommendations, continued)
• 3. Support efforts to increase the number of
  minority group high school and college graduates.
  The current supply of minority group graduates
  will not meet the demand for a diverse teaching
  force.
• Estimated Annual Cost Unknown

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Retention Recommendations

• 1. Provide a state 1,500 income tax credit to
  teachers who teach in high poverty or low
  enrollment school districts.
• Estimated Annual Cost 16 million (refundable
  credit)
• 2. Implement DPIs proposal, included in its
  Quality Educator and Retention Initiative (QERI),
  to provide a categorical aid program to support
  initial educators. The program would focus on
  mentoring and new teachers seminars.
• Estimated Annual Cost 5.3 million (3,500
  teachers _at_ 1,500)

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• (Retention recommendations, continued)
• 3. Implement QERI proposal for a state-funded
  grant to master educators in high poverty
  districts to serve as resources to students,
  staff and the community through seminars, special
  classes and other projects.
• Estimated Annual Cost 125,000 (50 teachers _at_
  2,500)
• 4. Implement QERI proposal expanding the current
  state program which awards 2,500 annual grants
  awarded to teachers who receive National Board of
  Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)
  certification to include teachers receiving DPIs
  master educators license.
• Estimated Annual Cost 187,500 (75 teachers)

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• (Retention recommendations, continued)
• 5. Create a specialty within the master
  educators license category for teaching in high
  poverty urban and low enrollment rural districts.
• Estimated Annual Cost None