School & District Management News in Brief

Baltimore Contract Embraces Merit Pay, More Teacher Input

By McClatchy-Tribune — October 05, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A new Baltimore teachers’ contract, announced last week and headed to union members for a ratification vote this month, is being hailed as one of the most progressive in the nation.

It would link teachers’ pay, in part, to their students’ performance, and do away with “step” increases that are based solely on years of experience and education. It also would enable educators to move quickly through the ranks, earn up to $100,800 a year, and give them more input on the working conditions in their schools.

City schools Chief Executive Officer Andrés A. Alonso described the contract as a “huge, monumental shift” for the district, noting that many of the stipulations are unprecedented in their focus on teacher effectiveness. “Right now, teacher compensation has nothing to do with whether they are effective,” Mr. Alonso said. If teachers are producing results in the classroom, they “shouldn’t be waiting years to reap the rewards for the work that they do.”

Andrés A. AlonsoCEO of Baltimore City Public Schools

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents Baltimore educators, called it “the most professional contract I have seen.”

Under the changes, the city would give its 6,000 teachers an automatic 2 percent pay increase in the first year of the contract, which would raise the starting salary for a teacher in the district to $46,774. Teachers also would get a $1,500 stipend for signing the contract, to be paid using the recently passed federal jobs bill.

In the second and third years, teachers could receive up to a 1 percent increase and a 1.5 percent raise, respectively. However, those increases would be based on student performance, teacher evaluations, and professional development.

The contract sets up four steps for teachers to attain: standard, professional, model, and leader. In three years, a teacher who becomes a lead teacher—and there would be only one per building—could earn up to $100,800, or about as much as a principal.

State schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick said she hopes other districts will adopt similar contracts.

A version of this article appeared in the October 06, 2010 edition of Education Week as Baltimore Contract Embraces Merit Pay, More Teacher Input

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Opinion A Good Principal Knows When It's Time to Leave
I didn’t leave my job because of burnout; I stepped away from being a school leader because it was in everybody’s best interest.
Matthew Ebert
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of someone handing off a baton to someone else over a completed puzzle.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management Principals Tell Politicians on Capitol Hill: We’re Burning Out
Students' mental health top principals' growing list of concerns.
6 min read
People walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington, June 9, 2022.
Visitors walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington on June 9, 2022.
Patrick Semansky/AP
School & District Management Women Superintendents Experience Bias on the Climb to Leadership
Interpersonal slights and inequities make it hard for women to land the job and stay in it.
3 min read
Woman stands in front of a staircase in different colors. She is about to walk up the stairs. Concept of standing in front of a challenge and finding the right solution and courage to move on.
mikkelwilliam/E+
School & District Management Fewer of Today's Superintendents Are at Retirement Age
A new survey of superintendents adds to what we know about the people who lead the nation's school districts.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of money, salaries and data.
iStock/Getty