Brown Deer schools join consortium to study teacher pay

Brown Deer - The school district will join a growing list of districts to fund a study that will develop a template for a teacher evaluation system.

The evaluation system would be used to help determine salaries for teachers since the compensation system in teacher contracts that was formally used no longer exists.

Director of Finance Emily Koczela said the consortium would hire a consultant at a cost of $174,868. The cost per district, originally estimated at $2 per pupil, is dropping rapidly, she said.

"There are now so many (consortium) members that the numbers are falling," Koczela said. "We are now in the range of 80 cents to $1.20 per pupil."

Superintendent Deborah Kerr and Director of Teaching and Learning Greg Schaffer will represent the district on an oversight committee for the project.

"This is the same group that worked on the handbook," Kerr said.

She also plans to include teachers in the process.

The handbook template provided the districts with a model they could tweak to fit individual district's needs. Koczela said she expects the teacher assessment project will provide a similar template that would be brought to the School Board and modified appropriately.

The consortium may be giving recommendations to the state on teacher evaluation methods, Schaffer said.

"It is important to be in the group so we know what is happening and have some say in it," he said.

The board on Tuesday approved participation in the consortium.