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State smiles on staff of Redondo schools
by Jason Dietrich
A check for nearly $600 will be winging its way to teachers, hall monitors and maintenance workers in each of Redondo’s schools as part of the state’s program to reward gains in standardized academic tests, education officials announced Monday.
Redondo schools will get a total of $837,185 as part of the School Site Employee Performance Bonus Awards. Half of that amount will go to the individual school employees as a one-time bonus. The other half can be spent by schools to bolster school programs, buy equipment, or be used in any other manner approved by the school’s on-site council.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime award. It’s never been done before that I know of," said Tom Cox, Assistant Superintendent in charge of facilities for Redondo Unified School District.
The grant is the final installment of a larger state program to provide an incentive for schools to boost their scores on the Academic Performance Index, the state’s benchmark of a school’s teaching effectiveness, which is based on the Stanford-9 standardized test. Redondo schools improved by leaps and bounds on last year’s ranking, with two Redondo elementary schools showing triple digit gains on the 800-point API scale.
All 13 of Redondo’s schools met or exceeded the state mandated growth targets on the API, and both teachers and schools received cash bonuses. This latest round of bonuses comes from $350 million set aside by the state specifically to reward school employees. Each full time employee gets $591.32 as part of the award, with a matching amount going to the school. Part-time employees received a smaller bonus.
Even though the district doesn't expect a check for at least four weeks, Redondo schools are already planning how they'll spend their share.
"We had a rough idea of the kinds of dollars they were proposing, so our councils have been working on what to do with it. Primarily we’re going to use it for classroom materials and equipment," Cox said.ER