School board approves many merit-pay plans

CEDAR CITY — Debates about how picky is too picky elicited strong opinions from State Board of Education members during discussions preceding a vote to approve most of the submitted performance-based compensation plans for Utah teachers.

The board met Thursday at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. Meetings continue through today.

Thursday's vote means many Utah teachers are one step closer to getting more money if their performance is above par during the upcoming school year.

The vote was 10-1, with the dissenting vote from board member Bill Colbert of Draper. He said he felt a higher standard should be held for the plans, with "some means of measurement."

The individual plans are proposed by school districts and charter schools. A total of 87 merit plans were received last month out of a possible 108, according to the Utah State Office of Education.

Eight of the 87 plans, labeled as "vague," are still pending board approval. School districts and charter schools that handed in plans lacking sufficient detail have until Sept. 1 to revamp their proposals. Districts and charter schools responsible for these plans will be notified via letter, according to office officials.

The districts that need to add more information to their plans are Kane and Weber. The charter schools are Venture Academy, Providence Hall, Legacy Preparatory Academy, Paradigm High School, Odyssey Charter School and Noah Webster Academy.

The board's green light for the complete and detailed plans is dependent on approval by the local boards of districts and charter schools, which haven't yet acted. The redone plans also need local board approval.

All local board approval plans must be done by Sept. 1. The compensation-based plans are required by SB281, passed in the 2008 legislative session.

During the past few months, school districts and charter schools statewide have been developing their own unique plans to distribute legislative funding based on how well an educator is doing the job.

"Some plans are very detailed, and others are not detailed at all," said Larry Shumway, associate superintendent of law, legislation and educational services for the state office.

Some board members have pointed out the districts and charter schools had an extremely limited time to do their proposals. Washington School District, lauded for its extremely thorough plan, actually began work before the legislation even went through.

"They anticipated what was going to happen," Shumway said. "They were readyto ready to go."

A few districts and/or charter schools simply stated in their plan that they are still working on their plan. "That is a plan," Shumway said. "It's a plan to plan."

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