TAMPA — Money really does draw qualified teachers to high-poverty schools where they're needed the most, according to a new evaluation of an incentive pay program in Hillsborough schools.
Twice as many teachers have applied to teach in the district's low-income Renaissance schools since 2003, when Hillsborough began offering a 5 to 10 percent bonus. And more than 70 percent of teachers surveyed said the extra pay influenced their decision to stay in those schools.
Such help can't come a moment too soon, as the recession pushes more schools past the program's eligibility threshold of at least 90 percent of students qualifying for a free or discounted lunch.
Seven new schools have joined the list of those eligible for the bonuses, raising the total number of Renaissance schools to 30. Six more schools passed the threshold this fall, but will have to wait until spring to qualify.
"I'm thrilled," said principal Arlene Babanats, whose Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School joined the group for the first time.
"With the dollars you're able to receive, you're able to expand programs, resources, and training for teachers," she said. "But it also helped with teacher retention because it provided some incentive. I really did not have a lot of turnover this year."
Like other schools in the group, Tampa Bay Boulevard has always qualified for extra federal Title 1 money designed to bridge the poverty gap.
But officials say they were prompted to use extra Title 1 funding to create the program in its highest-poverty neighborhoods after realizing that such schools were still lagging those in more affluent neighborhoods. Low-income students' reading and math performance is typically lower, and they are less likely to have the home support that affluent children receive as a matter of course.
Such schools also found it harder to compete for merit pay under the state's school recognition program. And officials said they found it nearly impossible to compete in the race for teaching talent. As in much of the nation, the district's poorest schools often had more than their share of inexperienced and sometimes unqualified teachers.
The Renaissance program made a difference in recruiting good teachers, but they weren't always staying long-term and making a clear difference in their schools, said Jeff Eakins, director of federal programs.
"It was originally just based on years of experience," he said, referring to the criteria for offering up to 10 percent bonuses, with additional money for national board-certified teachers.
"We were getting teachers to come, but the retention of those teachers wasn't what we would have liked it to be," Eakins said. "And we recognized that we really needed to look at student performance."
So the criteria were adjusted, with an eye toward state and federal interest in programs that tie merit-based pay to students' performance on standardized tests.
Beginning this fall, experienced teachers who are certified in their subject areas will qualify for a 5 percent bonus to teach in a Renaissance school.
But those teachers will have to stay at their schools or transfer to another Renaissance school the following year to qualify for an additional bonus of 5 percent or more, which is tied in most cases to schoolwide performance gains.
"When you're working at schools with high poverty, it really takes a team effort to get it done," Eakins said.
As before, board-certified teachers will qualify for an additional $4,500 bonus. And schools will get extra specialists in reading, writing, math and science.
Even with those changes, the Renaissance schools program remains a work in progress, according to teachers who were surveyed in an evaluation released in the spring.
Of those who left their schools despite receiving the bonus pay, 72 percent said poor leadership had driven them away. Others cited student behavior and frustration over student achievement.
"When principals are assigned to these schools, they should be instructed to bring the faculty together, not come in and make changes that would lower morale," wrote one teacher in the anonymous poll. "In my observance over the years, principals are placed there for a short period of time, perhaps to give them experience in high-poverty schools before they are moved on to district positions."
"If the leadership is not strong and the student behavior is not properly addressed, teachers will remain frustrated," another wrote. "Lack of parental involvement will often leave them feeling helpless, too."
Among teachers who remained in Renaissance schools for at least three years, many said they used a significant portion of the extra money to pay for student supplies or help the families of students who were struggling to buy food and other basics.
Teachers from a few schools, such as Burney Elementary, said in the report that they were frustrated at having fallen off the Renaissance schools list after dipping beneath the 90 percent poverty threshold. The school landed back on the list this year.
And several in the anonymous survey said the program could do a better job of filtering out teachers who transferred to impoverished schools just for the money.
"It is a hindrance to your school when we get teachers who come here for the money and their heart isn't in it," one teacher wrote. "And their lack of classroom management hinders students."
District officials echoed those concerns in their evaluation, saying they needed to do more to tie teacher recruitment to student performance, and make sure each school has an effective, long-term principal.
Not all teachers are in it for the money, said Burney principal Sally Stephens. But every little bit helps.
"I think it's a good draw for teachers," she said.
"But this is the hardest-working, most dedicated group of people I've ever worked with. I don't think people think about (the bonuses) that much. That's not the reason people are here."
Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3400.
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