HR Extras

TASB’s Legal Services Division has fielded plenty of questions from districts about Senate Bill (S.B.) 9’s fingerprinting requirements for employees of independent contractors that work in districts. So many that the division has posted a list of frequently asked questions on its Web site. The questions include a form districts can use to allow contractors to certify that they have complied with the law.

While Legal Services has weighed in to provide early help to districts, S.B. 9 is anything but clear with regard to this issue. TEA is in the process of developing new rules to clarify what districts need to do to comply with the law. The proposed rules should be available for review soon. HR Services will provide additional information when they become available.

Houston Endowment provides grant to train principals

Thirty aspiring principals will attend a new academy this summer to get the hands-on training they need to lead Houston’s most challenging middle and high schools. The academy expects to have candidates from traditional ranks—classroom teachers and assistant principals—as well people with nontraditional backgrounds, such as business leaders. The Houston Endowment provided a $3 million grant for the principal training.

Districts across the state struggle to recruit qualified principals, and Houston, which has its share of low-income schools, is certainly no different. The Houston area has approximately 160 principal job openings each year. Houston ISD accounts for 25 to 45 of those job openings. Scott Van Beck, a former high-ranking Houston ISD administrator, left the district to become executive director of the Houston A+ Challenge, the nonprofit organization that will run the program.

The training will begin with a six-week boot camp including courses on analyzing student data, solving budget problems, and building relationships. Van Beck would like the academy to lead to a principal preparation program comparable to the Teach For America program for teachers.

—“Future principals can get hands-on training,” by Jennifer Radcliffe, Houston Chronicle, Jan. 21, 2008.

Raise Your Hand coalition puts up $750,000 for principal training program

The Raise Your Hand Texas coalition has committed $750,000 to allow 100 school principals from around the state to attend one of four summer leadership institutes at the The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The institutes will expose principals to top national and international experts in the education and leadership fields.

Topics include “Improving Schools: The Art of Leadership,” “Leadership: An Evolving Vision,” “National Institute for Urban School Leaders,” and “Redesigning High Schools for Improved Instruction.” The coalition will cover the cost of the training plus accommodations, airfare, and incidental expenses. This is the coalition’s first campus-level initiative.

According to the Raise Your Hand Texas Web site, the coalition wanted to fund the training because “[We] recognize that quality campus leadership is a key component to the success of our public and charter schools.” Interested principals need to complete an online application before the April 18 deadline.

The bipartisan coalition is led by influential Texas business and civic leaders and chaired by former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff. The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education works to support, develop, and improve school principals.

Austin continues to lead in National Board Certified teachers

No less than 40 Austin ISD teachers have earned National Board Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. It’s the sixth straight year that Austin has led the state in the number of teachers earning the credential.

Texas has 394 National Board Certified teachers and about 40 percent of them work for Austin ISD. Teachers that earn the credential receive an annual $2,000 stipend from the district. Those that mentor other National Board candidates receive an additional $1,000 per year.

Teachers who go through the certification process typically spend a year documenting their subject-matter knowledge and classroom effectiveness.

— “Austin again leads state in national board teachers,” Austin American-Statesman, Feb. 19, 2008.

New York City charter school to offer six-figure teacher salaries

We may soon have a better idea whether substantially larger salaries will attract better teachers.

A New York City charter school promises to pay teachers $125,000 plus a potential bonus based on the school’s performance. That’s nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns and more than twice the national average teacher salary.

Teachers at the new school, the Equity Project, will have a longer work day and assume some duties usually performed by administrative staff in exchange for the generous pay. Set to open in 2009, the school will initially employ seven teachers to serve 120 students, many of them from low-income, Hispanic families.

The school’s creator and principal, Zeke M. Vanderhoek, contends that the high salaries will attract superior teachers and superior teachers are the key to student success. He’s so committed to that idea that his first-year salary will be just $90,000, causing a stir with administrators in the area.

All eyes in the education world will be on the school. Good student outcomes may pressure the city and its teachers’ union to radically rethink teacher pay.

—“At Charter School, Higher Teacher Pay,” by Elissa Gootman, The New York Times, March 7, 2008.