Bonuses tied to success

Financial carrot for educators proposed

January 17, 2006

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Gov. Frank Murkowski is asking the state Legislature to approve a $15 million incentive package that would reward state educators with financial bonuses for improving student academic performance.

The administration, on Friday, introduced bills to the state House and Senate that would award bonuses to a school's administrators, teachers and support staff if a substantial number of students show more than a year's academic growth as measured by scores on the state's standard-based assessments.

If state legislators approve the plan, individual schools would receive points for students based on whether students moved up or down in six academic categories. The points for each school would then be totaled and divided by the number of students to produce the school's overall score. The higher the score, the larger the bonuses for employees.

Mat-Su Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle said he supports the concept of financial incentives for educators.

&#8220I'm not opposed to that kind of concept,” he said Friday. &#8220We have the ability to get the data to document student growth and we can use that information to track progress.”

Bonuses would range from $2,500 to $5,500 for administrators and teachers. For support staff, such as aides and custodians, bonuses would range from $1,000 to $2,500.

Doyle said he only supports the proposal so long as funding doesn't dip into the state's base student allocation for general education. The bills introduced to legislators Friday explicitly stated that the program was not intended to replace or affect current state, local, or federal financing of public education.

&#8220If teachers through their own hard work are able to meet those goals and are able to get an extra $5,000, then I think that would be appropriate,” Doyle said.

State Education Commissioner Roger Sampson said he hopes rewarding all employees in each successful school will create a sense of teamwork, rather than pitting individual classrooms and teachers against one another.

&#8220The Alaska School Performance Incentive Program is intended to encourage everyone on a school's staff to collaborate and take shared responsibility for all students Š” Sampson stated in a press release this week.

While Doyle supports Sampson's plan, he said ultimately he'd like to see a salary system for educators that takes into effect three important aspects regarding a teacher qualifications, not just their education level and years of experience.

&#8220I think base salaries themselves should be structured to take into account a teacher's years in the classroom, education level and also their classroom results,” he said. &#8220Salaries should have some correlation to what actually happens in the classrooms.”

The governor's program has backing from the Alaska Council of School Administrators, a nonprofit corporation that represents the interests of more than 500 Alaska principals, administrators and school business officials.

&#8220In the spirit of being held accountable, this is a more positive approach than [the federal No Child Left Behind Act],” said ACSA Executive Director Mary Francis. &#8220People work hard to make a difference and it would be nice to see their work acknowledged.”

At this early stage, however, it is still unclear whether state legislators will support the program bills, Senate Bill 235 and House Bill 364, which were sent to committees Friday.

If approved, the program would begin next year.

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266 or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.