Last week The Compensation Technical Working Group finished nearly a year’s worth of work around K-12 salary recommendations by releasing a 177 page report to the Legislature. The Compensation Technical Working Group (CTWG) was formed after the Legislature passed legislation tasking the group with developing an enhanced, collaboratively designed salary allocation model for the K-12 sector. According to a news release from the CTWG, the key directives for the group’s report were:

• Attract and retain the highest quality educators
• Reduce the number of tiers within the existing salary allocation model
• Account for regions of the state where it may be difficult to recruit and retain teachers
• Conduct a comparative labor market analysis of school employee salaries and other compensation
• Provide a concurrent implementation schedule

The nine key recommendations are:

• Increase the starting salary for teachers and educational staff associates to $48,687
• Provide Fair Market-Based salary allocations for all K-12 staff
• Maintain comparable wage levels through an annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) and periodic wage analyses
• Align the Salary Allocation Model to the Career Continuum for Educators
• Invest in 10 days of Professional Development time
• Allocate mentors and instructional coaches in the Basic Education Funding Formula
• Provide appropriate staffing levels and increased program support for Basic Education
• Amply fund state Basic Education salary allocations and limit locally funded salary enhancement to 10 percent of the state allocation
• Ensure school districts receive the same or higher state salary allocations per state-funded employee

Detailed descriptions of these recommendations can be found in the report.

Of particular interest to The Evergreen State College were the group’s recommendations on salary allocation for teacher’s with advanced degrees. The Evergreen State College currently offers a Master’s in Teaching. After much deliberation the group recommended a model that “recognizes the level of education the employee attains. The salary allocation model provides an increase in salary for a graduate degree (Master’s or PhD), but reduces the premium from the current 21 percent (highest in the nation) to 8 percent. The group lowered the premium to a similar level that other states pay educators for advanced degrees as well as to a level recognized by comparable occupations.”

The group reached these conclusions after reviewing research on graduate degrees and teacher effectiveness. Recognizing that the research is mixed and limited to studies that measure the effect on student achievement in limited subjects and grade levels, the group relied primarily focused on research that found an in-subject Master’s degree leads to increased student achievement in those particular subjects. As a result, the CTWG recommended that the advanced degrees must be relevant to current or future assignments, as locally determined by the school district, in order to be eligible for placement on the proposed tier on the salary allocation model. This recommendation is aligned with the current statutory requirement that credits be aligned to the individual’s current or future assignment. Additional credits and clock hours are removed from the salary allocation model, but the group recommends that the state pay for additional time for professional development activities.

This recommendation should have little effect on Evergreen’s program due to the fact we require students enter the MIT program with their “content” area credits achieved.

The report is to be sent to the Legislature for their consideration. With a price tag of nearly $2 Billion to implement all of the recommendations, the Legislature will need to decide whether to accept the group’s findings, and if so, how they will be implemented and ultimately paid for. Although the price tag is very steep, the CTWG’s recommendations were released on the heels of the State Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. In McCleary, the court found that Washington is not living up to its constitutional duty to fully-fund K-12 education. As a result, the CTWG’s recommendations may play a significant role in the coming legislative session.

Several other groups will also be taking up the report. Most immediately the Quality Education Council will meet July 20 at the Cherberg Building in Olympia. It is expected that the QEC will discuss the recommendation in depth and make recommendations to the Legislature based on their deliberations.

Another group that will be keeping tabs on the Compensation Technical Working Group recommendations is the Joint Education Funding Task Force created by HB 2824. The group is directed to produce a report by the end of the year that describes how to fund elements of ESHB 2261. Passed in 2009, ESHB 2261 sets out to fully-fund K-12 education, a constitutional duty of the State of Washington.

The Washington State Caseload Forecast Council reported earlier this week that caseloads are down in the State – good news! Although very small savings were achieved, Washington will see a $56 million increase in the general fund. Savings are typically achieved when the number of kids in public schools, the number of inmates in prisons, the number of families receiving temporary assistance or medical assistance and/or the number children in foster care, etc.  are lower than expected.

Announced before the health care decision was released by the Supreme Court this week, some forecasters were very uncertain whether these savings would ever be realized. With an affirmation by the Supreme Court, it looks like they are safe for now.

For a full report see the following link: http://www.cfc.wa.gov/Web/20120627_DraftOverviewandNarratives.pdf

The Advanced Tuition Payment, Legislative Advisory Committee met yesterday, June 28 on the health of the Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program, Washington’s prepaid tuition program. The State Actuary was on hand to report on its status.  GET has been on shaky ground due to the combined forces of double-digit tuition growth and the falling value of its investments, resulting in the program to be underfunded.  However, after continued popularity with the general public, the Actuary reported that GET is “roughly on track” to be fully funded in 17 years.

The issue of full funding has been an ongoing concern for the Legislature and to those who have bought into the program. The Legislature has remained particularly concerned because a GET contract promises that the State will make up any shortfall in funding. GET began running into funding issues at the start of the recession, and in order to build up reserves, the cost of a GET unit increased this year by more than at any time in the history of the 14-year-old program, jumping from $117 in 2010-11 to $163 this year.

As well as the current health of the program, the committee heard analysis of how the program might be impacted if colleges and universities in Washington implement differential tuition rates. Differential tuition, the practice of charging students different rates of tuition depending on what program of study they chose, has become an issue of concern for the GET program. Institutions were authorized in 2011 to charge differential tuition rates if they so desired, however, the practice has yet to be implemented at any university or college.  Of primary concern at the Legislature is how differential tuition might negatively impact the GET program.

The State Actuary provided analysis of two scenarios. Currently GET has an 80% funding status. A 20% increase in the cost of a GET credit with differential tuition would result in a 67% funded status, and a 50% increase results in a 54% funded status. In order to make this up, the cost of GET credits increases significantly. Currently $163, a 20% increase results in a $257 price tag, and a 50% increase at $521 price tag. Not surprisingly, legislators were alarmed at this rate increase but unable to come to a conclusion. Committee staff members provided a few recommendations on how to proceed, but no final decisions were made. The Committee is expected to meet once more before the fall when recommendations must be made to the legislature.

On Monday, June 18 the Government Relations office attended a meeting of higher education stakeholders, chaired by House Higher Education Representative Larry Seaquist on the UW Tacoma campus in downtown Tacoma, WA. Other elected officials in attendance included, Representative Susan Fagan, Representative Hans Zeiger and Senator David Frockt.

Stakeholders spanning the spectrum of the higher education community were in attendance, including, representatives of the four year public baccalaureate institutions, stakeholders from the community college and independent private college sector and students.

Among the topics up for discussion was how to continue to press the legislature and public to keep higher education a top priority, specifically in the 2013 legislative session. Higher education was spared from cuts during the 2012 legislative session and many feel it will be vulnerable as we move into a big budget session. With revenues remaining rather flat (see the most recent economic revenue forecast) and the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that the legislature has not been adequately funding k-12 education requiring significant investment in coming sessions, many are concerned there will be very little money left, if any, to fund higher education.

Stakeholders shared their ideas for keeping higher education a priority, including, continued media coverage of the community. Representative Seaquist also charged the group with thinking about top priorities for higher education and how their importance might be relayed to the general public and policy makers.

The next stakeholder meeting is slated to take place sometime in September after the August primary.