
As H.3759 continues to move its way through committee and be amended based on feedback from many, I thought it important to share this from the State Department of Education.
“Districts will receive funding for all teachers in the applicable PCS position codes regardless of whether they are within the 23 years listed in the state minimum salary schedule. If a district has a teacher with 30 years of experience, the district will still receive funding for them from the funding appropriated for the salary increase. The funding received for that 30 year teacher will be the same as the funding they receive for the teacher with 23 years of experience
All teachers regardless of years of service will receive the 4%. Confusion apparently stems from the fact that teacher with 23+ years do not also get the annual 2% step increase.”
Other pertinent information regarding amendments to original bill:
The bill was amended Thursday morning & unanimously passed out of the K-12 subcommittee. It now heads to the full House Education Committee where it can be further amended before heading to the House Floor for full debate. I expect this debate to be BEFORE We begin the budget on March 11th.
Many of the most controversial provisions have been amended, including:
• Teacher of the Year has been added to State Board of Education.
• Clarifying K-3 screening to occur only 1x per year if student passes initial screening.
• Added Read to Succeed professional development must be offered free-of-charge to teachers by districts.
• Deleting a provision that would allow high-performing schools to hire noncertified teachers to teach subjects they have real-world experience in.
• Deleted the study of pay bands.
• Instead of automatic termination of staff at “unsatisfactory” schools for 3 years, the superintendent will terminate with discretion.
• Added a teacher bill of rights.
• Clarified 8th grade science end of course test also to be eliminated.
• Reinstated parents’ rights to appeal a school’s decision to retain 3rd grader for not being on reading grade level.
• Deleted part of the bill that could have led to jail time for school board members who fail to attend mandatory training. The bill would still allow those school board members to be fined.
• Changed “tsar” to “executive director” for 0-20 Committee.
What will be done about teachers no longer being eligible to the National Board Certification stipend? For experienced teachers to lose this will result in a $7500/year pay cut for them. Because my district pays an additional $5,000, this is a total of a $12,500 pay cut for me.
I will no longer be able to afford to teach in this state when my stipend in gone in 4 years, or I will be required to take on a second job.
We do not need a “tsar” or “executive director.” We already have too much bureaucracy in education. This is a waste of funding.
While the pay raise equity is laudable, 4% isn’t what Governor McMaster promised (5%), and it is a far cry from what SC for Ed proposed (10%). Four percent will not make the teaching profession more attractive, and the other issues that attract new teachers and make veterans want to stay haven’t been addressed. These include reducing paperwork, giving teachers more prep time, limiting class size, allowing more autonomy, and removing the 4.0 evaluation rubric for continuing contract teachers.
so in other words veteran teachers once again are being thought of by the SC Legislators as being someone less than deserving, as someone who carries a larger portion of the load, but yet is asked to shoulder even more without being fairly compensated, as someone from who more is expected but for who less is done, as someone who can be disrespected, overlooked, passed over, and brushed aside as if they were of little significance… just wanted to make sure I was reading this correctly