The interim School Board for the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District will review proposed employee salary schedules for the 2016-17 school year when it meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Jacksonville Community Center.
The board's regular meeting date is the first Monday of the month, but that was changed this month because of the Independence Day holiday weekend.
The district remains under the operation of the Pulaski County Special School District for the coming school year but will operate independently beginning July 1, 2016.
A proposed teacher salary schedule for the new district shows a beginning teacher salary of $38,000, which is higher than the beginning salaries right now for the Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and North Little Rock districts.
However, the proposed salaries for Jacksonville fall behind as a teacher gains experience and education credits. The proposed top salary for a Jacksonville teacher would be $55,500. The top salaries in the other districts currently range from $64,848 to $68,814.
Griffin: Standards plan ready in July
Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, chairman of the Governor's Council on Common Core Review, said last week that he anticipates recommendations to the governor on state education standards to be made at the end of the month.
Griffin was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson earlier this year to head a 16-member council of educators, parents and business people to evaluate and recommend possible changes to the math and literacy standards adopted by the Arkansas Board of Education in 2010. Those Common Core State Standards have been adopted by a majority of the states.
The council earlier recommended to the governor that the state replace the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers with ACT Inc., test products. Both PARCC and ACT tests are based, at least in part, on the standards. The council made its recommendation on the test issue first because of a July 1 deadline for continuing with the PARCC tests. That deadline has now passed.
The state Board of Education will take up the issue of selecting a test vendor when it meets this week.
Metro on 07/05/2015