Board Vote Today...Hope Erika is Right!

If you caught Erika Mellon's article on the budget (http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4589610), then you noticed the positive response we have received from at least four of our trustees. We should all recognize the quality leadership exemplified by board members that prove priorty one is to attract and retain high quality tachers: Carol Mims Galloway, Paula Harris, Larry Marshall, and Greg Meyers (Manuel Rodriguez has been supportive of the raise during board workshops).

If you live in their district, please make sure you watch the vote today and send them a big thank you for being LEADERS on this issue.

It looks like Natasha Kamrani, Diane Johnson, and Harvin Moore are moving to vote against the budget. Does that give you a clear picture of where you stand on the priority list? Keep those contacts coming if you live in those districts. I know that I will be watching from a far to see what vote my board trustee takes.

Last and best chance to reach them would be to send a note to sharris12@houstonisd.org. Ask her to forward to your chosen board member.

If you aren't working today it might be a good idea to witness the discussion in the board auditorium today.

Budget Vote Begins to Heat Up...

The superintendent is standing by his position to bring to the table a 3% raise plus a step for the teacher salary schedule. This Thursday the board will vote to approve the budget, vote it down, or make changes at the table.

Several of the board members have been discussing the need to add more money to the school budget for items other than salary by increasing the PUA (per unit/student allocation), possibly at the expense of a step for every teacher. That sounds like a good use for the money upon first glance, however I am still skeptical for a few reasons.

First, stuff doesn't teach children people do. Nothing has more of an impact on the education of our students than being taught by a high-quality teacher.

Second, HISD is putting a large amount of money (tens of millions) into non-salaried items such as library improvements, stadium upgrades, and other improvements to campuses which should help with improvements to areas identified as in the most need.

Third, our decision-making system is too dysfunctional to increase the amount of money spent by campuses without appropriate oversight.

I could be wrong, but I would venture to guess that only about half of our campuses actually have a functioning SDMC (shared decision-making committee) . You and I know that ultimately one person decides how funds are spent. Where you have a good leader things are fine, but we also know that cronyism is alive and well. That is when dictatorial leadership styles begin to manifest themselves in the worst way.

Spending our money to keep and attract great teachers is the best use of funds. I would agree that we could work on the PUA, but only after we have worked on how schools are run. Only when REAL SDMC's that include teachers, school employees, parents and community members are actually allowed to see the budget and have meaningful input into how those funds are spent should we make increases in campus spending.

Tell your board member to take a stand for attracting and retaining highly-qualified teachers by voting for the 3% plus step and to fix the SDMC before increasing the PUA.

Not so fast with that 3% plus step raise...

Yeah, that's right! Hold on just a minute if you thought that the HISD Salary for 08-09 was a done deal. Despite the fact that the budget recommendation submitted by the superintendent included the raise and step, several board members asked the administration to bring other "options" to the table.

The official report published in the Houston Chronicle was that some wanted to see more "creativity" in the salary budget.

I attended the board workshop where those options were presented. I saw proposals that left 2% in the salary schedule freeing approximately six million dollars to be used elsewhere. Melinda Garrett, Chief Financial Officer, stated that amount of money could be used to increase the maximum performance award to about 9k.

It could also be used to increase the PUA (per unit allocation) that determines how much funding a campus has available to fund everything other than salaries. That seemed like priority one for Diane Johnson, pos. 5 board member.

Larry Marshall, pos. 9 board member was the most supportive of passing the superintendent's proposed budget and therefore the 3% plus a step for the teacher schedule. Manny Rodriguez, pos. 3 board member was also very supportive of the recommended budget. He stated to other board members that the last two years they have concentrated on performance pay and now it was time to concentrate on the base pay for all teachers.

It was clear they both understood that keeping a competitive salary schedule was necessary to keeping qualified teachers in the district's classrooms.

My board member's contribution, Natasha Kamrani (pos. 1), was to ask when we would start a discussion about how salaries, in whatever form, impact student achievement. She stated to me in a clarification e-mail that she would be willing to support much higher salary schedules if it could be proved that they impact student achievement.

Well, we are on a mission to do just that. Research states that the teacher is the most important factor when considering student achievement. Further, research has proven that fully qualified, experienced teachers are most effective in the classroom and best able to impact student achievement. A study of teacher turnover rates for the past several years is under way. Be sure to look for that report on the HFT web page some time in the future. If the facts fall out where we think, then be ready to help us hold my board member to her word!

Here is another piece of anecdotal data that suburban districts have found out-- let HISD spend the money on training the new teaching force and let the new teachers cut their teeth in HISD schools. Put the money we saved into the base salary for teachers in the 6-8 year.

Hey, you can't blame them. Why wouldn't you let someone else absorb the learning curve and the price tag for training, especially if HISD isn't going to make the salary attractive enough to keep them once they actually learn how to teach!

The one thing that we know and HISD hasn't figured out is that they are going to have to pay a premium to keep the teachers at those step levels. They depend on the emotional commitment our teachers have to their schools to keep them in the classrooms. (Though a good principal is just as important a factor to keeping teachers in schools)

The "heartstrings factor" is being strained to the point of breaking by the grocery bill, gas bill, and their own child care bill. Let's see- more money to teach in an easier assignment that is closer to home and their own kids??? Hmm- I wonder what the exodus levels will be by August?