Governor Perdue’s merit pay bill has been formally introduced and assigned a bill number. SB 386 directs the State Board of Education to create a state-wide evaluation instrument for teachers, a Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM), and for administrators, a Leader Effectiveness Measure (LEM) by July 2011. Fifty percent of the calculation of the TEM and the LEM will be based on student achievement, as defined by the State Board. The remaining 50 percent of the calculation shall be based on one or more factors as determined by the State Board.

Under SB 386 an educator's placement on the state salary schedule would not be based on an advanced degree, if the degree was earned after January 27, 2010. Educators who earn advanced degrees before July 1, 2013 will be grandfathered in and will be paid for those advanced degrees as long as educators were enrolled in advanced degree programs on or before January 27, 2010.

The State Board will establish a new performance-based salary schedule, and the TEM and LEM will be used to determine whether educators are eligible for performance-based salary increases. Local school systems could still choose to supplement the salaries of educators.

The performance-based salary schedule would only apply to new educators hired after a specified date, though veteran educators could decide to opt in to the new performance-based schedule. The decision to opt in would not be reversible, and educators who have a break in service for longer than twelve months after SB 386 becomes effective must be paid on the performance-based schedule.  

The deadline for veteran educators to opt into and for newly-hired educators to be paid on the performance-based salary schedule would differ based on the school system for which the educators work. The performance-based schedule would become effective in July 2013 for the twenty three school systems which participated in the Race for the Top Memorandum of Understanding. Those systems include Atlanta, Ben Hill, Bibb, Burke, Carrolton, Chatham, Cherokee, Clayton, DeKalb, Dougherty, Gainesville, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Jones, Meriwether, Muscogee, Rabun, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Valdosta and White. The performance-based schedule would become effective in July 2014 in school systems based on the system’s willingness to participate, stakeholder support, logistical issues associated with implementation, and other factors. The plan would become effective in the remaining school systems July 1, 2015.     

The Governor’s office has indicated that it plans to fund the new performance-based program with a federal Race to the Top grant for which Georgia has applied. More details regarding the merit pay proposal can be found in the lengthy grant application http://gov.georgia.gov/vgn/images/portal/cit_79369762/155733684Race%20to%20the%20Top%20App.pdf. Grant proceeds would also be used to fund completion of Georgia’s Student Information System which would be an intrinsic part of the merit pay system. 

At this time there are more questions than answers to be found in this legislation. We anticipate that as the bill begins to move through the committee process more detail will be provided by the governor’s staff. PAGE has serious reservations regarding new statewide evaluation systems and processes for both teachers and principals. We also question whether the student information system is sufficiently comprehensive and accurate so that it can provide the type of data needed to fairly and fully assess individual student achievement over time. Having seen how the legislature “grandfathered” national board certified teachers in 2009, we are concerned that this legislation mentions “grandfathering” for those with advanced degrees. Funding is yet another concern, for while the governor proposes to establish a merit pay salary schedule with Race to the Top funds, it should be noted that these are in all probability one time grants to states. Over the past several years our state leaders have chronically under funded education and have also shown a somewhat limited attention span when it comes to the funding and ongoing improvement of such new programs

Mark your calendars now to attend 2010 PAGE Day on Capitol Hill on February 23. Please join us at the capitol to speak with your legislators about SB 386, the state budget, and other important education issues. RSVP to this free event to Tamme Bell as tbell@pageinc.org or at (770) 216-8555.

Professional Association of Georgia Educators

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