The Quality Teacher and Education Act

In June 2008, the voters of San Francisco passed the Quality Teacher and Education Act (QTEA) with a 69.8% majority, authorizing the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to collect $198 per parcel of taxable property, indexed annually for 20 years.

Heather Hough, Susanna Loeb, and David Plank of the Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), in collaboration with the San Francisco Unified School District, have documented the passage of this policy and are now engaged in a three-year evaluation (starting in 2009–10) of the implementation and effect of QTEA, focusing on the elements that directly affect the teacher workforce (teacher compensation, support, and accountability).

This first-year report documents the implementation of QTEA and how this affects the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers, the overall improvement of the teacher workforce, and the strategic removal of less effective teachers.

To study the effect of QTEA on teacher outcomes, the authors use a mixed-methods approach, combining analysis of the district’s administrative data with original data collection.