Luna showed a chart showing how students do best with highly effective teachers and principals and said “we must remove the barriers” to students having both. Elements of his plan include restoring the instructional grid to full funding and restoring the minimum teacher salary to $30,000.
He said he plans to move forward with a merit pay plan agreed to by “all stakeholders” in 2009. Teachers can receive bonuses for taking hard-to-fill positions; mentoring and leading; and working in schools that meet state and local growth targets. The bonuses would range from $2,000 to $8,000 more in bonuses.
Under the plan, principals wil have authority to select staff at school level, not at district level. Local school boards will have the flexibility to hire superintendents, who will not need to come from an education background.
The plan would replace tenure with rolling two-year contracts for all new teachers.”We can no longer provide a forever contract in our schools,” he said. Teachers who have tenure will be grandfathered in.
The plan would eliminate seniority as a crietria for Reductions in Force. “Age and longevity does not define quality teaching,” he said.
He also wants to partially tie teacher and administartor performance evaluations to student growth.
