CLINTON —
An Iowa task force looking at school improvements has released a $150 million proposal that includes raising teacher pay and changing the way teachers move up through the ranks.
The Task Force on Teacher Leadership and Compensation was created last spring by the Legislature. The group, which includes teachers and administrators, released its report Thursday.
Gov. Terry Branstad said he wants to make teacher pay and professionalism a centerpiece of his education proposal to the Legislature in 2013.
The task force’s proposal is aimed at retaining effective veteran teachers while making the profession more appealing to the state’s “best and brightest,” said Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education and a member of the 25-member task force.
“The top-performing education systems across the world share components of this plan,” Glass said. “We’ve taken those ideas and weaved them together.”
Key among the recommendations is increasing the minimum starting salary for new teachers in Iowa from $28,000 to $35,000 a year within the next three years, as well as an overall average teaching salary range of $40,000 to $45,000 a year.
The report also recommends a five-tier classification system that begins with initial teachers and moves to career, model, mentor and lead teachers. Base pay and responsibilities go up with each level. Teachers would begin their careers with a residency year that would include intensive supervision and mentoring.
The report also recommends the state offer around $5,000 to $6,000 stipends to teachers who work in hard-to-staff subjects or high-poverty schools.
Most of the initiatives would be financed with “new money” from the state, Glass said.
Branstad’s administration would make the final decision on how to pay for the changes.
Glass said the state’s economy is healthy right now, and “that’s an advantage when thinking how we might implement a system like this.”
Representatives from the governor’s office and the state education department will meet with teachers about the proposal this fall.
Mary Jane Cobb, executive director of the Iowa State Education Association and a member of the task force, said the changes would give teachers “a stronger voice in the direction of their classrooms and their schools.”
State Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, a Democrat from Arlington who chairs the Senate education appropriations subcommittee, said he would support the plan as long as the state commits to pay for all the proposals.
AP story section
Related Photos
-
This Herald file photo shows Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Clinton. Branstad said he wants to make teacher pay a centerpiece of education reform. Scott Levine/Clinton Herald
Discussion
Higher salaries for beginning teachers urged
- AP story section
-
- Flood buyouts could cost millions extra CEDAR RAPIDS -- More than 100 victims of the 2008 Iowa floods could receive buyouts well above their property's assessed value before the disaster struck. Those buyouts -- some more than $1 million above pre-flood assessments -- are in line to cost t
- Ex-Iowa teacher receives prison for sexual contact ALLISON -- A former math teacher at a rural Iowa high school headed to prison Monday after a judge sentenced her to up to five years for engaging in sex acts with three male students. Ashley Nicole Anderson's sentence was shorter than the term of up
-
New goal: Make processed foods look more natural
NEW YORK -- Here's the latest goal for food makers: Perfect the art of imperfection. When stretching out the dough for its premium "Artisan Pizzas," Domino's workers are instructed not to worry about making the rectangles too perfect: The pies are su
- Blast at Iowa plant injures 3, 1 critically POSTVILLE -- A small explosion at a northeast Iowa factory on Monday injured three workers, including one who was flown to an Iowa City burn unit in critical condition. The cause of the early morning blast at the Norplex-Micarta composite laminates p
-
Obama: NSA secret data gathering 'transparent'
President Barack Obama defended top secret National Security Agency spying programs as legal in a lengthy interview Monday, and called them transparent — even though they are authorized in secret.
-
IRS supervisor in DC scrutinized tea party cases
An Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status.
-
Explosions remind La. that plants not always safe
By some measures, chemical plants like the sites of separate fatal explosions this week in Louisiana are among the safest manufacturing workplaces in America.
-
Iowa regulator pleased with ruling on disclosure
Iowa's top campaign regulator says she's pleased an appeals court upheld much of an Iowa law requiring outside groups to disclose their spending on political campaigns.
-
Census: Rural US loses population for first time
Rural America is losing population for the first time ever, largely because of waning interest among baby boomers in moving to far-flung locations for retirement and recreation, according to new census estimates.
-
Show earns some snark over subject matter
NEW YORK -- They aren't looking for sex and they're not in need of baby daddies. It's those two things that landed the singles ladies of "Pregnant & Dating" on reality TV to begin with. Five in all, the growing and glowing women in WE tv's latest lin
- More AP story section Headlines
