The Jefferson County Board of Education’s conservative majority moved Thursday to restrict pay raises for teachers deemed “partially effective,” rejecting an independent review that found the district’s teacher evaluation system too flawed to use for setting salaries.
At the same time, board chairman Ken Witt floated a new proposal he said would both “reward great teachers” and accomplish the goal of making sure every classroom has an effective teacher.
Officials with the state’s second-largest school district released recommendations Thursday of a third-party “fact finder” brought in after the district and its teachers union reached an impasse over whether teachers rated partially effective should get raises this year.
The review concluded that the district’s teacher-evaluation system, in place since 2008, “lacks sufficient validity and reliability as a basis for setting salaries.” The report urged the district to sharpen its system and wait another year — until the 2015-16 academic year — before denying raises to certain teachers found to be partially effective.
The board voted 3-2 to reject the recommendations.
“It’s very important we make certain as a district and an organization that performance means something — that we reward our highly effective teachers in a way that lets them know there is a purpose and a value in striving to be great in what you do,” Witt said Thursday night.
In the 2013-14 school year, 89 Jefferson County teachers out of more than 5,000 earned a partially effective or ineffective rating, the district says. The district never considered giving raises to ineffective teachers.
Of those rated as partially effective, only raises for non-probationary teachers, or those with tenure, are at issue. The raises under discussion are step increases, or a raise whose amount depends on how long teachers have been with the district.
Board member Lesley Dahlkemper said that if the district is going to move ahead, “we need a sound, valid educator evaluation system on which to base it. … There is still more work to do on that front.”
Witt proposed a new teacher compensation model that would factor in evaluations, teachers’ current salaries, greater rewards for highly effective teachers, bonuses and more.
District staffers said they needed more time to analyze Witt’s proposal, which could take several weeks.
Jeffco teachers have not seen a pay increase since 2010-11 and took a pay cut that later was restored.
The teachers union, the Jefferson County Education Association, argues that the distinctions between different ratings are too narrow and the system requires more than the minimum two evaluations carried out now, typically by principals and assistant principals.
John Ford, president of the teachers union, said Thursday night he needed more time to review Witt’s surprise proposal.
“We are still holding out hope we can work with this majority board,” Ford said. “We are still willing to move in a direction where we’re collaborative and working on certain things like teacher evaluation.”
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski
