CONTACT:
Jennifer Mock
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Capitol: (405) 962.7679
jenniferm@okhouse.gov
OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 24, 2008) –House Republican leadership unveiled the details of the Higher Outcomes and Performance in Education (HOPE) Rewards Act of 2008 for Oklahoma teachers today.
The legislation, which will be a top priority for Republican leadership this legislative session, will create a performance pay pilot program for up to 25 schools.
"Yesterday we heard a ‘yesterday plan’ for education - the same old across the board pay raises tied not to how well a teacher does their job, but how long they have been doing it," said House Speaker Lance Cargill. "Today, we announce a plan for the future - a system that gives extra rewards to our best teachers, regardless of their age. Our best teachers deserve more than just average pay."
Schools will apply to take part in the program, and those selected will be allowed to craft their plan according to local wants and needs. The plan would have to meet a certain set of criteria, but beyond that the operation will be up to the local school, said Rep. Tad Jones, chairman of the House Education Committee.
"We are finally going to empower teachers to control their own compensation," said Jones, R-Claremore "Teachers can now be rewarded for their classroom excellence regardless of years of experience or added duties."
Each plan will be required to include the following components:
- Growth in student achievement based on a nationally recognized test, student attendance goals and improvement or gains in graduation rates (this component will make up a majority of the basis for the award/bonus)
- Professional development
- Collaboration and/or mentoring
- Principal and peer review by trained evaluation teams
- Parental review
Cargill plans to ask for public funds to pay for a portion of the pilot program, but private donations will also be encouraged. The performance pay plans will also move to increase the salaries of the state’s best teachers, which will in turn move Oklahoma toward the regional average for teacher pay.
"Opponents have created a false choice that Oklahoma will not reach the regional average in teacher pay if their raises are based on performance," said Cargill, R-Harrah. "Giving raises based on performance does increase the regional average in the state, period. The only debate here is whether we continue the status quo of giving across the board teacher raises with little consideration given to performance, or if teachers who go above and beyond deserve to be compensated for their efforts."
"We know that the existing teacher compensation system is ineffective," said Matthew Springer, Research Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education and Director of the National Center on Performance Incentives. And that "there is virtually no link between a single-salary system and student achievement."
Springer testified before the House Education Committee this summer, which held an interim study looking at the options for implementing a performance pay system in Oklahoma.
"We want to encourage teachers to take ownership of student achievement and reward them for the gains their students achieve under their instructional skills and leadership," said Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville and a veteran teacher and principal.
Sen. Clark Jolley, who is the author of a similar performance pay bill in the Senate, said lawmakers have worked with teachers to make sure the pay structure is one they can embrace. Teachers feared a system based solely on test scores, but several criteria will go into awarding the bonuses. They also worried about principal favoritism playing a role in who got the bonuses, but that has also been addressed in the legislation, he said.
"We are empowering teachers to make more money than they have before based on performance," said Jolley, R-Edmond. "I don’t know why a teacher would be against this."
The details of House Bill 3390 were released at the Beggs Events Center in order to showcase a performance pay plan that has proven successful in the Beggs school district. Beggs is only one of 18 school districts nationwide to receive a national grant from the U.S. Department of Education for performance pay.
The district has implemented the System to Motivate and Reward Teachers (SMART) program, which compensates teacher and principal performance at high-needs schools.
Beggs is one of four school districts in Oklahoma who have initiated their own performance pay system for teachers. Ardmore and Plainview Public Schools and Millwood Public Schools in Oklahoma City also have privately-funded performance pay systems in place. Another eight states and at least 14 local school districts across the country also have some form of performance pay.
High School math teacher Sarah Gomez, who is also a nationally certified teacher, said the performance pay plan at her Beggs school encourages cooperation among teachers with the ultimate goal of classroom success.
"The students are the big winners when their teachers are engaged in analyzing and improving teaching methods, curriculum, securing advanced degrees and student progress," Gomez said.