Although the accountability board doesn’t want to prevent the release of state funds, “that’s the way we interpret the law, and that’s what the law says,” said Isiah Leggett, chair of the board. “We do recognize there’s challenges.”

Under the Blueprint, all school districts had to also increase teacher salaries by 10% and raise starting salaries to $60,000 per year by 2026. One of the five main priorities of the Blueprint is to create a highly qualified and diverse teacher workforce.

“While City Schools does not yet have an agreement with [Baltimore’s teachers union], we look forward to a new career ladder that will advance our goal of attracting and retaining a high quality and diverse workforce who support and accelerate student achievement,” Sherry Christian, a BCPSS spokesperson, said in a statement.

The school districts will “build on the strengths and address the challenges of our previous career pathways while also meeting all Blueprint requirements” she continued.

Baltimore school officials will now send the accountability board written notification if that they failed to meet Monday’s deadline.

Baltimore City Schools moved to end the district’s decade-old career ladder by the end of June to make way for the Blueprint plan. The union wanted to retain some aspects of the current ladder.

Teachers were compensated with a complex pay-for-performance plan that was considered revolutionary when adopted in 2010. It replaced automatic pay raises based on tenure or advanced degrees with a four-tiered career ladder based on teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. Each tier came with a pay increase, and teachers who earned enough credits called “achievement units” could move up a pay grade.

Baltimore teachers rushed to earn college credits before the current career ladder ended — one way to receive an achievement unit corresponding to a pay bump. But school officials decided June 4 that they would no longer accept credits from Idaho State University as achievement units over concerns about the quality of the courses, Taylor said.

Christian declined to comment on the achievement units.

Teachers feel they’ve wasted money and time on college courses that the district previously accepted, Taylor said. The union filed a grievance over claims the district violated their contract violation. This month, members packed a Baltimore Board of School Commissioners meeting to protest the credit reversal and the district’s persistent late payments.

“They’re getting the rug pulled out from under them without any sort of mindfulness about what kind of hit to morale this is causing,” Taylor said.

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