MNEA Agrees to Teacher Bonuses in ‘Fresh Start’ Schools

The union representing Metro Schools teachers has agreed to 5% bonuses for hundreds of its members next year. The incentive pay plan is the broadest approved to date by the Metro Nashville Education Association.

Five so-called ‘fresh start’ schools will completely re-staff after failing to make significant gains in student achievement. New hires will get the bonuses for taking on the challenge.

Teachers in schools that feed into north Nashville’s Pearl Cohn will also get the bonuses, but must participate in 10 additional days of professional development. The cluster will take on more low income students as a result of zoning changes. Union president Erick Huth says the extra pay was an arbitrary part of the larger rezoning plan.

“It was a political decision, not an educational one. I don’t have any faith that this 5-percent plan is necessarily going to prove effective. However, we do have a commitment to study it.”

The bonuses were authorized for just one year.

Huth says he’s only going along because of concessions made by the district. They include some larger coaching stipends and cash value for unused professional development days.

The new pay plan was presented to the Metro school board Tuesday night. MNEA membership will begin voting to ratify it on Friday.