D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is proposing a contract that would give mid-level teachers who are paid $62,000 yearly the opportunity to earn more than $100,000--but they would have to give up seniority and tenure rights, two union members familiar with the negotiations said yesterday.
Union members
said teachers are opposed to giving up seniority and tenure, no matter the size of their raise, and probably would reject such a proposal."You may be trading off your future, your tenure, your job security," a union member said. "When you trade that, it seems to me you're not getting much."
Rhee, who declined to comment yesterday because of the ongoing negotiations, has said she wants a contract that would "revolutionize education as we know it." She also has said she wants to improve instruction by ensuring that the District "has the most highly compensated and competent" teachers in the country.
Education experts who follow teacher contract issues said that D.C. teachers would be among the highest-paid educators in the nation under Rhee's plan and that a proposal eliminating seniority and tenure would be groundbreaking.
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