Cartwright board approves 2025–26 pay-for-performance plan after public hearing

The Cartwright Elementary School District governing board on Tuesday approved its 2025–26 pay-for-performance award plan after a public hearing and staff presentation.

District human resources presenter Dr. Etheridge told the board the plan is required to spend Classroom Site Fund dollars and is based on 2024–25 assessment and evaluation data. "Close to 93% of the teachers approved this plan," Etheridge said, adding that 7% voted against ratification at individual school sites.

The plan keeps the existing award amounts but changes the timing and clarifies eligibility. The assessment-linked component — $1,500 at full award — will be paid in December rather than June so the district can verify spring assessment results before payment. "Paying that in June did... put a liability on the district that we could actually pay this out to teachers," Etheridge said, explaining the timing shift.

If the district-level criteria are met (14 of 20 schools receiving a C or better), all teachers qualify for the assessment component. If district criteria are not met, the district will apply school-level criteria and then subcomponents: 35% tied to assessment proficiency shifts, 30% tied to attendance, and the remainder to other measures. The plan also includes a $600 evaluation component (full amount for teachers rated effective or highly effective, $300 for developing), professional-development and endorsement payments up to $1,100, a national board certification supplement up to $3,000 (split into two payments), and a $400 instructional-improvement payment.

Etheridge described several clarifications adopted by the committee: pro-rating awards to FTE (half-time teachers receive half the award), reducing the retiree-return-to-work payment to 90% of the award, and setting employment-through dates for specific payments. He also described the clock-hours window (earnings between Nov. 1, 2024, and Oct. 30, 2025) and payment timing (endorsement payments in November 2025; clock-hour payments in April 2026). "This payment is based on data from this year," Etheridge said of the assessment component, noting the committee decided to move payment from June to December so results are available first.

Board members asked questions about outreach and committee composition. Etheridge said a teacher representative from each school site participated on the committee and that committee members presented the plan back to their staffs before the ratification vote. He confirmed the plan is included in the teacher handbook and that administration will bring back any appeal cases to the committee.

During roll call the board recorded one abstention and the plan was approved. The board also discussed the plan's potential to incentivize classroom improvement, and Etheridge said the district will monitor and report back as needed.

The public hearing portion included no substantive public comments specific to the technical details of the plan. The district noted that because state budget action is pending, the administration will revise some budget forms if needed when the Auditor General releases updated forms.

Implementation details retained in the plan include: pro-rated awards by FTE; a requirement to be employed through defined dates to receive certain payments; a 90% payment rate for retired return-to-work participants; and appeals handled by the pay-for-performance committee. The district recommended approval of the plan and the board adopted it as presented.