A Tale of Two School Systems � The Quick and the Ed

A Tale of Two School Systems � The Quick and the Ed

A Tale of Two School Systems

by Erin Dillon

The Post writes today about the negative reaction among DC charter schools to the proposed DCPS teachers contract, which gives DCPS teachers pay increases of possibly $20 – 30K a year above their base salary. This additional pay comes in the form of merit pay and is funded through private foundations, therefore charter schools don’t have access to the money.
It’s not hard to understand why the new contract makes charter schools nervous–higher DCPS salaries means tougher competition for teachers. Plus, offering merit-based pay may make DCPS schools more competitive in recruiting teachers that would otherwise be attracted to performance-oriented charter schools. (An example of traditional public schools taking lessons from charter school innovations, perhaps?).
Regardless of their concern over new competition, I don’t see how charter schools have any claim to the money since it is coming from private donors. Afterall, charters are receiving, as part of their per-pupil payments, the additional money specified in the contract for base salary raises, which they can use to raise teacher salaries if they want.

More on Public School Employee Compensation

by Forrest Hinton

In response to this provocative post, some readers asked for—and some demanded—a more comprehensive look at changes in total compensation among public education workers and all workers in the United States. Your wish is my command.