Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is awarding 666 of its teachers with stipends based on their teacher performance evaluations during the 2017-18 school year.
BCSC school board members on Monday unanimously voted to approve a memorandum of agreement between the school corporation and the Columbus Educators Association to award the stipends.
To be eligible, BCSC’s 711 teachers were required to have been employed by BCSC on a regular contract on Dec. 1 and had to be rated effective or highly effective on their teacher performance evaluations during the 2017-18 school year, said Teresa Heiny, BCSC assistant superintendent for human resources.
The stipends come from $334,144.82 in state money allocated to BCSC as teacher appreciation grants, Heiny said. The total being distributed to eligible teachers amounts to $287,404, while the remainder of money awarded to BCSC will help pay for Social Security/Medicare deductions and its teachers retirement fund, Heiny said.
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From 2013 to 2016, the dollar amount distributed to school districts was based on ISTEP scores, but was changed last year to average daily enrollment, Heiny said.
BCSC’s enrollment has essentially remained flat over the past two years, with the school corporation reporting 11,360 students this fall, an increase of 10 students over the prior school year.
The approval of the memorandum of agreement between the school corporation and the Columbus Educators Association will result in stipends of $358.25 being awarded to 121 teachers who were given a 3 rating, for effective performance.
A total of 545 teachers who had a evaluation rating of 4, or highly effective, and will earn stipends totaling $447.81, Heiny said.
She said there was always to be a difference in the dollar amount between teachers who were rated effective and highly effective.
“Most school districts, including us, chose to differentiate by $1,” she said. “Last year, the statute changed to mandate at least a 25 percent difference.”
Years of experience do not factor into the stipend, Heiny said. Teachers’ supervisors are responsible for individual teacher evaluations.
Not every teacher was eligible for the stipend money, including teachers new to teaching and BCSC, who did not receive an evaluation last school year, new hires with previous teaching experience who were not evaluated last year at another school corporation, and teachers who did not earn a 3 or 4 rating on their evaluation.
Heiny said 54 BSCS teachers fell into one of those categories, with 45 of them being new hires without previous teaching experience with no evaluation.
The stipends were paid out in Friday’s payroll to teachers, she said.
The Indiana Legislature set aside $30 million for teacher appreciation grants, which are awarded to districts based on student enrollment as of Sept. 14, Heiny said. The state began distributing such stipends to teachers starting in 2013.
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The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board on Monday approved:
- Change orders tied to various school corporation facility projects, including football field turf replacement at Columbus East and Columbus North high schools, BCSC playground improvements and a roof replacement project at Parkside Elementary School.
- A $344,000 bid from from Dunlap & Company Inc. for the replacement of a chiller at Columbus East High School
- A resolution for an additional appropriation of $690,000 to cover personal liability insurance, substitute teacher pay and utility costs that had been higher than what the district budgeted.
- A memorandum of understanding between the school corporation and the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center. Under the agreement, BCSC will reimburse the center for the salary and benefits of one-full time teacher, in addition to the salary of one part-time teacher.
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