Incentive Pay, DISD and the Alliance-AFT

With all the mess going on at 3700 Ross over the Performance Pay portion of the TIF grant, it's hard to believe that the DISD is set to roll this thing out district-wide next month. This year's fiasco is just the "pilot" of this program for 59 schools.

At the same time, the DISD is rolling out the D.A.T.E. grant program. This incentive pay scheme is the brainchild of the state of Texas. It's just now making it to the campuses even though the Governor presented Dr. Hinojosa with a huge check at Cowart Elementary school several months ago.

The D.A.T.E. is based on the same principal as the Pay for Performance of the TIF. The CEI! This time, however, the Administration is trying to provide some incentive money for teachers who do not have a CEI of their own. Those are the "elective" teachers in our schools. The way they plan to do this is to "team up" non-CEI teachers with CEI teachers. The two of them then have to develop a plan, and a way to evaluate that plan, where the non-CEI teacher supports what the CEI teacher is teaching in their class. Once that is done, the awards then depend upon the CEI receiving teacher's CEI and progress on test scores! Again, our children are nothing more than test scores and NEA-Dallas feels that they are much more!

Each school that participates must conduct a vote of its faculty. Seems that during several of these votes in the last week, the campus administrators have called upon the representatives of Alliance-AFT to get up and say why the teachers should vote in FAVOR of doing the D.A.T.E. grant. In schools where there is a known NEA-Dallas representative, that representative has been ignored and in one instance, deliberately not called upon.

Now why do you think that would happen? Could it be that the campus administrators know that NEA-Dallas is opposed to this "performance pay" scheme? Could it be that the campus administrators know that NEA-Dallas is opposed to the use of the CEI for ANY reason and we believe that our students are "more than just a score"? Or, could it be that Alliance-AFT has become so "cozy" with the administration of the DISD that they are seen as "one of the family"? You decide...

Either way, NEA-Dallas will continue to oppose the Performance Pay portion of the TIF program, the D.A.T.E. and any other "incentive pay" program until all of our employees have concrete, contracted salary schedules. Salary schedules that can not be amended or waived by the Administration and the Board of Trustees on a yearly basis!

Will this stance win us brownie points with the Administration? No. With most of the members of the DISD Board? No. With even some of our members? No. This stance is not one that is politically popular, but is one that is necessary. One that is necessary for our children because they are much more than just a test score!