Paradise Valley school district approves pay increase, renews performance-based plan

PHOENIX — The Paradise Valley Unified School District Governing Board approved a pay boost for staff and the renewal of a performance-based pay plan for teachers at Thursday’s meeting.

Heading into the next school year, base salaries for all employees will go up by 2.5%. In addition, the starting salary for teachers will rise to $50,000, up from $47,853.

The Paradise Valley Unified School District is a K-12 district with schools in northeast Phoenix and northwest Scottsdale.

The approved bargaining agreement was ratified by 95% of the Paradise Valley Education Association, according to Heather Schmidt, the group’s president.

“I am extremely excited about the results of our work. This agreement adds 2.5% to every certified-base salary, and a 10% increase to our priority service credit, which addresses longevity,” she said.

Approved alongside the pay bump was the performance-based pay plan, which provides an additional $4,925 for teachers if student test scores and assessment forms about mandatory teacher meetings are completed to satisfaction. If the test scores and assessment forms are not completed to satisfaction, a smaller portion or none of the additional money would be paid out.

Music teacher doesn’t like Paradise Valley district performance-based plan

Noelle Smetana, a music teacher at Echo Mountain Primary School in Phoenix, says she isn’t a fan of how the incentive program works.

“I think that all teachers put in far more hours than they’re actually paid for and therefore it should just be automatically given,” she said, adding that the money should be included in the annual salary for teachers.

The mandatory teacher meetings are referred to as Professional Learning Communities and require educators to collaborate on student progress. Smetana said for special subjects like music, it’s more of a hassle to attend meetings because she must travel to other schools due to the smaller number of specialized teachers in the district.

“I believe that the forms that we have to fill out and the questions we have to answer about how the meeting went are more complicated and just more things we have to do, more things on our plate,” she said.

According to the Paradise Valley Unified School District website, the purpose of the program is to measure progress and improve teaching practices.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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