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Teacher salary bill clears Senate
Tuesday,
May 6, 2008
The Senate has unanimously approved in final reading the bill increasing teacher salaries with amendments.
Senators have changed the bill to require that teachers will receive their pay increases annually rather than every two years as proposed by the administration. The chairman of the Senate Education Committee Dr. Alo Stevenson said teachers should be entitled to yearly pay increments like the rest of the ASG workforce. Another charge that senators made is to require Senate approval of a three member Certification Board that will oversee the licensing and certification of all public school teachers. The bill proposed that the governor appoint the board with the consent and advice of the Legislature. The Senate also removed the provision in the bill, which authorizes the Department of Education to charge fees for services related to the enforcement of the teacher certification program. Senator Alo said the department already charges fees for these services. A letter from Governor Togiola Tulafono which was distributed to the House this morning explained his reasons for proposing that teacher raises be granted every two years rather than annually.
He said this would give evaluation ample opportunity to carefully monitor each teacher’s performance to determine if it is in line with expected standards. With every biannual increment, a teacher who receives a successful evaluation would receive an increment that covers years one and two, which is the equivalent of three pay increments under the current scheme. The governor pointed out that over an 11-year period, under the new salary reclassification plan, a teacher will receive a salary that is 150% higher than their non teacher ASG colleagues. He said the proposed increments are strictly tied to performance and attendance as well as continued professional development, with the overall goal of improving the educational system. The House of Representatives approved the bill in second reading after a very extensive hearing on the teacher salary bill this morning.
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