ISD 361 school board to consider test data, teacher input before voting on alternative compensation system in June
A decision on the continued funding of an alternative teacher pay system was tabled Monday after a split vote of the Falls School Board.
The board is expected to consider the funding at its next regular board meeting.
A memorandum of understanding for discussion on the consent agenda details the district teachers’ involvement in an alternative professional pay system. The Quality Compensation for Teachers program, or Q-Comp, has cost the district more than $2 million since it was started in the Falls during the 2006-07 school year, board member Stuart Nordquist said.
The program pays each teacher an additional $3,000 annually on top of their contract salary for meeting certain benchmarks. With data provided during the meeting which does not show a clear growth in student statewide test score achievement, Nordquist sought more time for the board to consider continuation of the program.
After a 3-3 split vote to pass the entire consent agenda, with the clear dividing issue the Q-Comp memo, the board then voted to table the Q-Comp issue until the next meeting. Board members Darrell Wagner, Michelle Hebner and Mark Lassila voted to pass the entire consent agenda in the initial vote; Nordquist, Dena Wenberg and Will Kostiuk voted down the consent agenda. With the split vote, the consent agenda failed and Nordquist motioned to table Q-Comp from the May agenda to the June meeting. Lassila cast the only vote against tabling the Q-Comp item to the next meeting. All other consent agenda items then passed without discussion.
Nordquist, who raised questions about the success of the program, asked for more time for the board to review test-score data presented during the meeting by Superintendent Jeff Peura, as well as receive union feedback on that information.
“In other words, if I read this chart correctly, what we have is overall decline in those scores,” Nordquist said after briefly reviewing the data, which accompanies this Journal report.
In response to Nordquist’s comment, Peura read some of the data, which showed fluctuation in the direction of the results collected over the last five years on Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment II tests in math and reading. Some years show a “rebound” in percentage of students passing the tests, Peura noted, while other subjects and grades showed an overall decline.
Hebner asked Peura if he thought giving the program more time would produce positive results.
“I know the administration is aware of the heightened responsibility of the teaching staff; I know the teachers are aware we’re in a new era of responsibility with rigor in our classrooms,” Peura said. “I would say that if the board were to give one more year, that opportunity is there for expanded opportunity. But on the other side of the coin, I will say the data supports that ‘why haven’t we made more gains in the last five years?’ Our data shows declining return on investment if this were a business.”
Nordquist said he agreed with Peura’s final statement regarding business investments.
“We’re looking at $2 million in taxpayer money,” Nordquist repeated. “We’re supposed to be one of the watchdogs of money ... Anyone in private enterprise, you correctly stated Mr. Peura, would never do something like this.”
Q-Comp is funded through levies, of which 35 percent is collected locally and 65 percent comes from state funds. Nordquist noted that this was a double burden on Falls taxpayers who directly paid for local contributions and whose Minnesota taxes were also used, in part, in the state funding for such educator payments.
Peura said school principals have “ratcheted up” their classroom visits and teacher observations. He also noted that the Response to Intervention program has shown positive gains in elementary reading scores. The school officials understand the consequences of failed state testing, he noted.
“Would you see gains, I can’t guarantee that,” Peura said. “Would it continue to go down, I can’t say that either.”
He said that the effectiveness of teachers plays a large part in educational outcomes, but that outside factors such as parents and the community also weigh in on the results.
The board has until June 30 to approve or deny additional time for the Q-Comp program, Peura explained. Meeting dates for upcoming contract negotiations with Local 331 were to be set following Monday’s school board meeting.
In other action, the board tabled to the next meeting discussion on reinstating a .375 full-time-equivalent Response to Intervention coordinator position.
The board voted to accept a letter from Mike Bolstad asking to be removed from consideration as head boys hockey coach, and suppressed the next agenda item to hire Bolstad for the same position. Board members also unanimously voted to not renew the contract of Angela Schwartz, which had been held from the April meeting. Stacey Fougner, Marc Glowack and Melissa Walls were granted tenure; a reception for them followed the meeting.
