Jim also posted what the GA has been up to:
Top (or Bottom) 10 Facts Every Educator & Parent Should Know
The 2013 budget is en route to Governor McCrory & will be signed
1. Eliminates 9,306.5 education positions -- 5,184.5 teachers, 3,850 teacher assistants, and 272 Support Personnel (guidance counselors, psychologist, etc.).
2. Provides NO pay
increases for educators, continuing North Carolina's race to the bottom
of national salaries. In 2007-08 North Carolina was ranked 25th in the
nation in teacher pay, last year our state was 46th. With no additional
pay, next year North Carolina undoubtedly will be at the bottom.
3.
While gutting public schools and educators, the legislature adopted a
$50 million school voucher program ($10 million 2013-14, $40 million in
2014-15).
4. The North Carolina Budget
eliminates career status for all teachers. Senate legislation, that
received no public hearings in the House, was placed in the budget to
eliminate career status for teachers. The new standard requires each
school district to identify the top 25% of effective teachers without
providing any criteria on how to accomplish this ranking of
professionals. Teachers will be placed on a 1, 2, or 4 year contract.
The top 25% will be given the option of receiving $500 to compensate
them for the loss of due process rights. NOTE: the new system will be
phased in over the course of the next five years.
5.
North Carolina no longer values educators who work on their continuing
education through Masters or Doctorate level degrees. Beginning in the
2014-15 school year, educators will receive no additional pay for
additional degrees unless your job requires (counselors, school
psychologists, etc.)
6. Grades Schools (A-F),
80% based on standardized test scores, 20% based on growth. No other
variables will be considered in this grading.
7.
Eliminates the Teaching Fellows Program, once heralded as a national
model for recruiting teachers into the classroom, the program is no
longer funded.
8. Reduces targeted education funding:
• Cuts Textbook funding by $77.4 million dollars;
• Cuts Classroom supply funding by $45.7 million dollars;
• Cuts Limited English Proficiency funding by $6 million dollars.
9. Retired educators will receive NO Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA).
10. The General Assembly will be back next year.
UN.BE.LIEV.ABLE
.
I belong to the Facebook group Badass Teachers Association (BAT) and this sane thing was posted there. Several teachers from NC were talking about not completing their degrees or relocating, not that it's much better in a lot of other places (think chicago, Tennessee, Florida, to name a few). Who is going to want to teach in NC now??? The continuing dismantling of public education by people who either have no clue what they're doing, or are in it to make a buck, needs to stop!! Thanks for even mentioning this. It weirds me out that teachers are posting about their classroom labels and task cards when stuff like what happened with Treyvon Martin, the firing of thousands of educators in Chicago, and now this debacle in N C, and there is no mention of it anywhere, even though they impact our jobs and our students. I don't want people to get political necessarily, but this stuff has to be affecting some of the bloggers I follow, yet this is the only mention. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I don't necessarily get negative on the blog, but this is unbelievable. Luckily I'm on a different salary scale as an SLP, and Chapel Hill Schools is a wealthier district. Still, I don't know how young teachers will be able to afford teaching, and also do things like raise a family. I'll be putting more stuff up, since I'm not in the mood to make cute 'labels' or 'task cards'.
DeleteRuth I would note, that while your an SLP, and I'm An OT, and we are on a different pay scale, don't for a moment think our pay scale is not directly tied to the teacher's pay scales. The teachers in NC are some of the lowest paid in our country, so to are the SLPS and OT'S. As long as we are employed by the school system, our "fortunes" (and I use the term loosely) are closely tied to one another!
DeleteIncidentally, Jannike has a great blog about working with students with Autism... Some great reading there! http://www.anautismconnection.blogspot.com
Thank you for sharing this. What the NCGA is doing to public education is absolutely shameful. We are fortunate to be somewhat insulated in Chapel Hill, thanks to our additional school tax, but this is going to be devastating for the rest of the state (and no picnic for our district either, to be sure). How are we ever going to attract quality educators, the best administrators, therapists, or anyone else to work in NC when the state legislature has made it so obvious that their work is not appreciated? My son starts Kindergarten this fall, and I am terrified for the future of his public education.
ReplyDelete