The End of Average Teacher Salary at CCSD Could Be A Utopia - Or a Nightmare

Nevada Succeeds' Brent Husson says schools with lower income kids are paying more for their teachers than schools in wealthier areas. It's called Average Teacher Salary, and the new Nevada education funding formula may tie teacher pay to "actual" salary. That, says Husson, means a possible reshuffling of teachers.

He also says it's the way schools should be - with a mixture of experienced teachers mentoring newer teachers in a collaborative atmosphere.

Currently, Husson explains in the first half of this Nevada Voice podcast, when schools pay teachers based on an "average," the schools with higher paid teachers aren't charged what their staff actually costs. But schools with lower paid teachers - who tend to be less experienced - are charged more in their budgets than what their teachers make.

Husson says that's plainly unfair.

Former CCSD asst. superintendent and interim CFO, Eva White (who was a finalist for the superintendent's job last year) says that there have been schools in Vegas where experienced teachers mentored brand new teachers. And it can work, if schools are willing to do it. But she tempers Husson's vision of utopian, collaborative school cultures by point out the hurdles the district will need to jump in order to get there.