Education Funding

S.F. Eyes Cutting Prep Time for AP

By John Gehring — February 23, 2005 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Elizabeth Rogers spent an hour last week helping an Advanced Placement student revise a single paragraph in his persuasive essay. A veteran teacher and the chairwoman of the English department at Lowell High School in San Francisco, she views such time with students as essential to her job.

But as the 60,000-student San Francisco school district negotiates with the city’s teachers’ union for a new contract, one cost-cutting proposal would end preparation classes for many of the district’s 113 AP teachers. The district’s proposal comes as school districts nationwide are embracing the rigorous coursework and encouraging more students to take AP classes. (“Advanced Placement Courses Cast Wider Net,” Nov. 3, 2004.)

District leaders argue that if teachers want a raise, they must also agree to some of the cutbacks being discussed. Scaling back the extra prep period for those who teach AP, which costs the city schools $4 million a year, is one of those options.

Ms. Rogers, who has taught AP classes for more than 20 years, believes that’s an unfair proposition.

“If you eliminate the preparation time, you eliminate the AP program,” she said. “The attitude of the faculty is, we are not going to teach these classes without the acknowledgment of the work we put in. This is absurd. You can’t expect someone to do college-level work at the high school level without giving them a college situation.”

Tom Ruiz, the district’s director of labor relations, said he was surprised at the level of anger among AP teachers at a recent school board meeting.

“It is only a proposal,” he said. “We are trying to find ways to compensate teachers. All we have done is say to the union, ‘Can we talk about this?’ ”

Being ‘Creative’

United Educators of San Francisco, the local teachers’ union, is asking for a 12 percent raise over two years. The district has proposed maintaining the current salary structure for this year, and has offered a 1.5 percent raise for next year.

The most recent contract expired last June, and the district and the union held their first negotiating session earlier this month. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23.

Constraints in state funding for school districts, Mr. Ruiz said, have left San Francisco and other districts struggling to stretch dollars. “We are trying to be creative and deal with the hand the governor has given us,” he said.

All San Francisco high school teachers already receive one period during the day to prepare for their classes, and AP teachers have an additional period. They use the student-free time to write lessons, meet with students individually, set up science labs, and prepare for classes in other ways.

The proposal, which calls for cutting $1.8 million from the $4 million that pays for the extra AP preparation time, would still allow new AP teachers and some others to hold on to the period.

Other cost-cutting ideas include suspending or scaling back a sabbatical program and ending a $5,000 bonus for certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

“It’s a bargaining strategy by the district, who is saying they don’t have the money for raises without cannibalizing other programs,” said Dennis Kelly, the president of United Educators of San Francisco, an affiliate of both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association that represents 6,000 teachers and classroom aides.

But Mr. Kelly believes that since the district gave Superintendent Arlene Ackerman a 12 percent raise last fall, money for teachers’ salaries and other programs like AP preparation periods should not be sacrificed. “What’s good for the goose,” he said, “is good for us little chickens, too.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 23, 2005 edition of Education Week as S.F. Eyes Cutting Prep Time for AP

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

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

Education Funding A Judge Just Ruled That Another State's School Funding System Is Unconstitutional
New Hampshire joins Pennsylvania on the list of states whose courts have ruled that it's underfunding poor school districts.
5 min read
Image of money symbol, books, gavel, and scale of justice.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding This State Would Be the First to Reject Federal K-12 Funds. But It's Far From a Given
Tennessee lawmakers have established a task force to review federal education funding, risking money for low-income schools and special ed.
8 min read
Illustration of Benjamin Franklin on a one hundred dollar bill looking at a calculator that says "recalculating."
Laura Baker/Education Week and hamzaturkkol/iStock/Getty
Education Funding The Federal Government Might Shut Down (Yes, Again). Here's What Schools Need to Know
At first, most districts can expect business as usual if the federal government shuts down. But some districts risk losing funding soon.
5 min read
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is surrounded by reporters looking for updates on plans to fund the government and avert a shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 22, 2023.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is surrounded by reporters looking for updates on plans to fund the government and avert a shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 22, 2023.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Education Funding Do K-12 Students Have a Right to Well-Funded School Buildings?
The answer in a recent state court case wasn't exactly a "yes." But it also wasn't a "no." Here's what could happen next.
5 min read
Image of an excavator in front of a school building.
iStock/Getty