PANAMA CITY — Bay District Schools teachers will see a bonus on their Dec. 19 paychecks, just in time to finish up last-minute holiday shopping.
The School Board approved annual bonuses and raise amounts for the next fiscal year on Tuesday.
Elementary school teachers will each receive a bonus of $750, while secondary teachers at middle and high schools will take home a bonus of $500.
How raises are determined is a little more complicated.
Superintendent Bill Husfelt said teachers chose whether their raise would be awarded based on two different scales. The grandfather scale pays out an $850 raise for all teachers rated as effective or highly effective, while the performance scale gave teachers rated as highly effective the opportunity for higher compensation.
Teachers were appraised based on evaluations by the district and the state, which uses value-added model (VAM) scores to measure a teacher’s effectiveness based on student performance on standardized tests.
Teachers rated as highly effective who elected to be compensated by their performance will take home a $1,200 salary increase. Teachers rated as effective at all grade levels otherwise will receive a raise of $850, which go into effect in January.
“If they wanted to get paid on the performance pay scale, they could make a little bit more if they were ‘highly effective,’ ” Husfelt said. “If they’re ‘needs improvement’ or ‘unsatisfactory,’ they did not get a pay raise.”
The raises and bonuses were part of the annual contract recently approved by the teachers union.