Proposal could revolutionize how NC teachers are recruited, retained, compensated

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools district could become an integral part of an effort to revolutionize how North Carolina teachers are recruited, licensed, retained, and compensated.

“We definitely want to hear from our teachers, here locally, about their thoughts and provide some avenues for them to provide feedback for us, as well,” said Stephanie Sneed, school board member.

A commission has been working on behalf of the state board of education and the Department of Public Instruction for two years on the Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals proposal.

Board members learned Monday that CMS could become a site to pilot the proposal’s recommendations.

The commission found a highly fragmented state-of-the-teaching profession, said Van Dempsey, chairman of the North Carolina Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission.

“The purpose of licensure,” Dempsey said. “What if you look back 10 years ago as to what the different licensure components meant, that is frayed? The compensation model doesn’t work.”

Teachers could make anywhere from $38,000 to just over $80,000.

Licenses would be on a level of one to four based on the teacher’s years of experience and whether they hold a college degree or any advanced degrees.

Increases in pay would be based, in part, on that teacher’s effectiveness.

“I mean, this would change how you earn a license,” said Justin Parmenter, a seventh-grade teacher. “It would change how you maintain the license. So it’s certainly the thing that teachers are most concerned about is pay. But that’s not the only thing that would change.”

Parmenter has been an outspoken critic of the proposal.

“What are any potential drawbacks that would be to volunteering our teachers to be kind of guinea pigs for this process?” Parmenter said. “So what would be the potential impact on our students?”

State officials said that’s precisely what they are concerned about.

“Part of the purpose of this is to have a more robust structure for how we help as many teachers as possible, attain the level of practice where we know they’re having a positive impact on student learning,” Dempsey said.

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