Clairmont Heights Civic Association

From state rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield: "Governor Perdue discussed a range of issues including education, water, transportation and health insurance reform today at the annual Eggs & Issues Breakfast hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce at the Georgia World Congress Center.

 

At the breakfast, the Governor outlined a proposal to enhance the way Georgia compensates its teachers by adding a performance-based pay option to the existing salary system. The compensation model would award salary bonuses based on classroom observation and student growth, enabling effective teachers to be eligible for much higher salaries much earlier in their careers. Under the current system, teachers only receive salary increases for years spent teaching and for advanced degrees earned.

 

The proposed legislation will preserve the current salary structure but will allow current teachers to opt-in to the new performance pay system when it is fully implemented in 2014. New teachers and those opting into the pay system will not be eligible for automatic supplements for advanced degrees, but will be eligible for higher bonuses based on classroom observations and the degree to which their students have grown academically. In a recent survey of 20,000 Georgia educators, 80 percent said these were the components on which teachers should be evaluated. The bill will enable those already enrolled in advanced degree programs to complete their studies and remain in the current pay scale.

 

This proposal is part of Georgia's Race to the Top application, a competitive federal grant that offers as much as $400 million for Georgia schools. Twenty-two local school systems have committed to teaming with the state on the application to implement innovative education policies, including a pay-for-performance plan.

 

The bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt the pay-for-performance system by 2014, using the experience of the Race to the Top systems to develop a plan that will benefit teachers and students statewide."