LINCOLN — The state teachers union agrees with goals laid out Thursday by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman to attack the state's gap in achievement between white and black students, which is the nation's widest in one area.
Jess Wolf, president of the politically powerful Nebraska State Education Association, cautioned that Heineman's goal of assigning the best teachers to the most troubled schools will be controversial with some educators.
And basing teachers' pay increases partly on students' performance is a touchy subject in the classroom, Wolf said.
“We've talked a lot with the governor about a lot of these particular issues,” Wolf said, “and what he's talking about are things that we don't have a problem with.”
An attorney who represents dozens of Nebraska school districts said, however, it was frustrating to hear the governor's call for higher salaries for the best teachers because several districts have tried that and have lost lawsuits brought by the NSEA.
The State Commission of Industrial Relations has consistently ruled that school districts cannot pay certain teachers more than others, said Karen Haase, a Lincoln attorney.
“We can't give (good teachers) extra salary unless we pay everyone extra salary,” she said. “The governor always glosses over that. ... It's really frustrating.”
The differing views came after Heineman issued a call to action in a speech to a state school administrators group, saying it was unacceptable that the achievement gap was so wide.
A federal report released this month found that black children in Nebraska trailed their white peers on national math and reading tests by some of the widest margins in the country. The gap in eighth-grade math scores for 2007 was the nation's widest.
State officials recently discovered that the academic achievement of African-American students, as measured in eighth-grade math tests, was worse in Nebraska than in any state in the old South.
“The status quo is not working. Changes must be made now,” Heineman told the annual meeting of the Nebraska Association of School Administrators in Kearney. “We can't afford to lose another generation of African-American students, or any student population, with an academic achievement gap.”
The governor laid out a three-pronged attack:
Ÿ Emphasize four years of English and three years of math studies to graduate.
Ÿ Improve teacher quality because it is the single most important factor in student success.
Ÿ Assign the best teachers to the “most-challenging” schools.
“There are other issues to be addressed, from early childhood programs to parental involvement to the length of the school day and the school year, but I'll save those for another day,” said Heineman, who lists education as one of his top three priorities.
The governor and the NSEA are among the groups working together to prepare an application for federal educational stimulus funds provided through the “Race to the Top” program to aid the effort to close the achievement gap.
Commenting before his speech, Heineman — who is married to a retired school principal — said getting the best teachers to work in the lowest-achieving schools won't be easy. School districts, he said, will need to challenge such teachers and probably pay them more.
Heineman said he already has discussed with the NSEA and other state education officials the idea of basing teacher salaries, in part, on their students' performance.
“Performance-based” salaries, Heineman said, would be more flexible than “merit-based” pay because they would not be tied strictly to students' test scores, which he said would be unfair.
“Kids are not widgets. Kids are not products,” he said, adding that performance-based pay would be measured over several years and would be negotiable within local school districts.
Wolf, of the NSEA, said that for the past three years, members have endorsed resolutions in support of looking at alternative ways of basing teacher pay.
He cited things such as paying older teachers more for mentoring younger teachers, paying teachers more to move to poor-achieving schools and paying more if a building or a district has improved its performance.
All such changes, Wolf said, would have to be negotiated by teachers and school boards.
The NSEA also wants salaries to be raised, not just the same amount of money divvied up in a new fashion, he said.
“I'm not sure we're talking about getting rid of the salary schedule,” Wolf said. “But we are willing to look at some other methods for additional compensation for those who do additional duties.”
Low teacher pay has been a long-standing problem in Nebraska, where average teacher salaries rank 45th nationally. If benefits are added in, Nebraska climbs to No. 42, Wolf said.
Lincoln attorney Haase, who sits across the table from the NSEA in teacher negotiations, said that Nebraska teacher salaries stand up well in comparison with neighboring states and that student achievement is rising except in the metropolitan areas where black students are concentrated.
She said paying top teachers more would require a change in state law or contract language.
Heineman emphasized in comments before his speech that the changes wouldn't be easy. He stressed that he was not calling for state mandates but for partnerships with school districts, administrators and teachers.
One exception would be increasing curriculum standards for English and math. Students of all races who take four years of English and three years of math score significantly higher on ACT tests, Heineman said.
Currently, Nebraska lacks such requirements in its state curriculum guidelines, which require students to complete 200 hours of course work to graduate.
The State Board of Education has discussed adopting more specific standards for subjects such as English and math, said Betty VanDeventer, a spokeswoman for the State Education Department.
A 2007-08 survey of schools found that 90 percent of Nebraska schools required at least four years of English to graduate, she said. About 74 percent of schools required three years of math, the survey indicated.
Luanne Nelson, spokeswoman for Omaha Public Schools, with the state's largest population of black students, said the district has adopted both standards.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
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