Board adopts formula to pay charter school instructors

GENTRY — The Gentry School Board, at its Aug. 15 meeting, approved a plan based upon pay for licensed teachers for paying charter school instructors not currently licensed by the Arkansas Department of Education.

According to Judy Winslett, assistant superintendent for the Gentry School District, ADE has provisions for licensing instructors to teach in the expanded fields offered through charter schools and to be paid on the same scales as traditionally licensed teachers.

As a result, a formula was recommended for the current school year to pay charter school instructors at the same rate as licensed teachers on the salary schedule but prorated to adjust for teaching on a part-time basis. This would mean charter school instructors would be paid at the same rate as licensed teachers, based on education and experience, but prorated for the number of periods they teach per day.

As an example, an instructor teaching one period per day would receive 1/8th the pay of a licensed teacher plus pay for a prorated portion of the one preparation period provided for each full-time teacher each day.

The approval of the rate of pay is for this year only, with an adjustment to add the new instructors to the board-approved teacher pay scale planned before the next school year. That change would be read before the board and submitted to the school district’s personnel policy committee and classified personnel policy committee for review and recommended changes before final adoption by the board.