Klein explains the funding formula to principals

Someone explain exactly how the deal Weingarten made on school funding helps teachers in any way. Hey! She's a "responsible" union leader. Responsible to BloomKlein. No wonder Rod Paige has such affection for her.

Principals’ Weekly
April 24, 2007
Chancellor’s Memo [excerpt]

Empowering Principals to Drive Student Achievement

Under the new system, to a significantly greater degree than in the past, you will control your budget, and your choices about hiring will affect your school’s purchasing power. Fair Student Funding will no longer fund schools based on the salaries of teachers newly hired into those schools. This is already the rule when it comes to teachers hired with categorical funds or teachers not covered in the “base teacher” allocation. We’re just extending the principle on a gradual basis.

Here’s an example. Right now, if you are choosing between a $60,000 teacher and an $80,000 teacher for a base position, your decision changes your school budget. Absent other salary changes or attrition, your budget goes $20,000 higher if you choose the $80,000 teacher; you are effectively held harmless for the increased salary costs. Under Fair Student Funding, that won’t be true anymore. Your funding next year will not depend on the hiring decisions you make this year. Whatever your school’s funding level, you will need to spend your dollars as best you can to drive achievement for your students. If you choose to hire more costly teachers and their costs do not fit into your new budget, you’ll be responsible for those costs.

To take another example, if a teacher with a $75,000 salary resigns at the end of the current school year, then other things being equal, you will be able to hire a replacement teacher earning roughly $75,000 without driving up your school’s real costs next year. If you hire a teacher earning significantly less, then next year, you will have additional funds to spend on other student needs. If you hire a teacher earning significantly more, you will not be held harmless for the additional costs next year. Whatever the salary of your hire, you will also be accountable for funding any raises that teacher receives in future years.
In order to help you make better judgments about the costs of your hires, applications you receive through the Open Market system will contain information about the forecasted 2008 salary of the applicant. Applications through the Recruitment Management System will contain applicants’ answers to questions about their teaching history and education experience.

Some principals have expressed concern that the new system will shift the focus to money, not learning, and discourage the hiring of successful senior teachers. I disagree. In our new accountability system, principals are accountable for student achievement. You can never pocket financial “savings”; you can only spend resources on other supports that you believe will better serve your students. High-quality experienced teachers can contribute enormously to student achievement and mentoring younger teachers.