Local teachers turned out at the school board meeting Thursday night to protest being dropped from federal differentiated pay funds just before Christmas.
East Lake Elementary School teacher Heather Anderson Davis told the school board that teachers were not properly notified of some conditions to keep getting the money, and that teacher effectiveness scores should not be counted so harshly against them. She asked that teachers be given more sick days that can be banked, and that teachers be given a year to reverse low scores before losing program money.
“Please let teachers be a part of these conversations,” she said.
Differentiated compensation in Hamilton County is funded through fiscal year 2025 with a federal coronavirus aid program, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund of 2020.
Teachers at county Hope schools and Promise schools are eligible for the extra money if they teach certain subjects and maintain a state level of effectiveness of three, four or five. Some LOEs are affected by the school’s performance, too. Differentiated compensation ranges from 2.5 to 20 percent of a teacher’s Hamilton County salary.
Ms. Davis said she and others were not aware that their own school attendance would keep them from qualifying for the extra money, and that teachers were being asked to choose between their health and their jobs.
Aaron Fowles, a member of the Tennessee Education Association, said teachers who stayed home with coronavirus or pneumonia, or with a family member who had coronavirus or pneumonia, would lose thousands of dollars a month.
“Reinstate the darned stipends,” he said.
Hamilton County Chief of Talent Dr. Zac Brown said that fewer than one percent of the 1,400 fall recipients had lost their funds due to their attendance records. Those teachers had exceeded the state’s annual allotment of 10 sick days in November when Dr. Brown “ran the numbers.” He said the funding conditions were in videos, websites and e-mails. Some forms of long-term leave such as FMLA or military leave do not disqualify teachers.
“Clearly, hearing from our teachers today, we need to do better,” Dr. Brown said. “We are definitely listening and looking.”
The administration said they will re-examine the attendance cases related to coronavirus sick days. The county does not require teachers to take five sick days for coronavirus this year.
Another teacher, Sarah Cross, lost her funds because her school’s effectiveness score fell, she said.
“I am an effective teacher,” Ms. Cross said. “I’m sure you would all give us more money if you could, so I’m hoping that’s what will happen.”
Fewer than nine percent of recipients lost funds due to under-performance, Dr. Brown said.
Board member Karitsa Jones said she was more worried about losing teachers.
“My biggest concern now is, will we lose them in May?” she said. “I’m offering that we reinstate and have further discussion this summer,” she said, to much applause from the teachers present.
“Everything is on the table,” said Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson. “We’ve started this and we don’t have a plan to pay for it,” he said. If the program continues after Spring 2025, the department of education must find the $7 million within its own general purpose budget.
“We don’t want to retain the wrong teachers,” said board member Marco Perez, who’s on the board’s finance committee. Before the program is funded locally, he said, the administration should examine the effectiveness of the program at attracting and retaining good teachers.