An Open Letter to Iowa's Senators and Representatives

Dear Members of the Iowa General Assembly,

The 32,000 members of the Iowa State Education Association would like to thank you for the landmark piece of legislation, Senate File 277. This bill at long last fulfills the promises made in the Teacher Quality law of 2001, creates a new collaborative professional development system, and improves the accountability system so all educators are focused on increasing student achievement.

Thank you for increasing salaries to attract and retain quality Iowa educators. The minimums will be increased by $1,000. All teachers will receive an average increase of $3,600 in 2007-08 and $5,400 in 2008-09. Iowa will make an unprecedented jump in state-by-state rankings from 40th to 25th in the nation (assuming teachers continue to receive competitive settlement increases during bargaining).

Thank you for including area education agency professionals and school nurses in the teacher salary increases. These positions are crucial for Iowa to have a quality educational system and this legislation recognizes that their salaries must be competitive with teachers.

Thank you for ensuring all Iowa children will have access to a teacher librarian, guidance counselor, and a school nurse. School districts can request a two-year waiver but they will be required to have these positions after this period. School districts also must work toward a goal of having one guidance counselor for every 350 students and one school nurse for every 750 students.

Thank you for creating local teacher quality committees. With equal representation of teachers and administrators, the local committees will monitor and implement this important piece of legislation at the local level. For the first time, the legislation ensures that teachers are part of process. The committee determines the use and distribution of professional development funds, monitors the professional development, monitors the evaluation process, and recommends the use of the market factor incentives.

Thank you for funding quality professional development opportunities and not mandating additional days. The old system was a one-size-fits-all approach that directed all of the funds to pay teachers for the additional days. Thanks to your changes, we will now have a flexible, collaborative system that is focused on the needs of the individual, attendance center, and district. Now, our professional development needs will be determined through a goal setting process that is tied to student achievement. The professional development funds can be used for additional time, substitute teachers, materials, speakers, content, and costs associated with implementing individual professional development plans. The funds must be balanced between district, attendance center, and individual professional development plans. This is a vast improvement.

Thank you for improving our accountability system. Iowa now has one of the toughest teacher accountability systems in the nation with detailed teaching standards and rigorous evaluations. We are up for the challenge of keeping Iowa at the top in virtually all measures of student achievement, and this legislation makes sure that evaluations are conducted in a fair and consistent manner that is focused on improvement. Unnecessary paperwork is eliminated so we can focus on teaching. The evaluation process will be clearly defined, with teacher input, including the intensive assistance program.

Thank you for creating pilot projects that will study pay-for-performance and career ladders instead of implementing them immediately. Working together, school districts and teachers may be able to create a better compensation system that will attract and retain quality teachers. We need time to make that happen.

Thank you for broadening the "market factor pay" to include all types of incentives, and thank you for recognizing that we need to have input into making those determinations. Iowa school districts can’t hope to compete with the public sector salaries for shortage areas. But providing incentives for shortage areas -- such as retraining existing teachers for those subjects -- can be very successful.

Thank you for extending the stipends for the National Board Certification. Now, all teachers who register by December 31, 2007 will be eligible for the registration reimbursement and a $2,500 stipend each year for ten years if they successfully earn this prestigious distinction.

Thank you for developing an administrator improvement and accountability system similar to the system for teachers. And finally, thanks to all of you for truly making a difference for children and public education in Iowa.

Sincerely,

Members of the Iowa State Education Association