Support Grows for Teacher Bonuses

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Kudos to Miller for pushing differential pay for teachers (from a front-page story in today's Washington Post):

A movement gaining momentum in Congress and some school  systems in the Washington region and beyond would boost pay for exceptional  teachers in high-poverty schools, a departure from salary schedules based on  seniority and professional degrees that have kept pay in lockstep for  decades.

Lawmakers are debating this month whether to authorize federal  grants through a revision of the No Child Left Behind law for bonuses of as  much as $12,500 a year for outstanding teachers in schools that serve  low-income areas.

National teachers unions denounce the proposal for  "performance pay," saying it would undermine their ability to negotiate  contracts and would be based in part on what they consider an unfair and  unreliable measure: student test scores.

Debate over the proposal has exposed unusual fissures between  the influential unions and longtime Democratic allies. Some education experts  say the unions are out of step with parents and voters who support the  business-oriented idea of providing financial incentives for excellent  work.

Rep. George Miller <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/George+Miller?tid=informline> (D-Calif.),  chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that the teaching  workforce is leaking talent and that his proposal would help rejuvenate it.  Young teachers watch their friends "go off and get paid for their time and  ingenuity" in other fields, Miller said. "In teaching, you go as fast as the  slowest person."

Miller's proposal, building on recent federal steps to  encourage incentive pay, would provide grants to school systems that choose to  pay bonuses to teachers who excel in high-poverty schools, worth up to $10,000  in most cases and $12,500 for specialists in math, science and other  hard-to-staff subjects. Decisions on who gets extra pay would be based on  student test gains and professional evaluations.

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Support Grows for Teacher Bonuses
More Schools Offer Performance Pay as House Debates Issue

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 18, 2007; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701936.html?hpid=artslot

A movement gaining momentum in Congress and some school systems in the Washington region and beyond would boost pay for exceptional teachers in high-poverty schools, a departure from salary schedules based on seniority and professional degrees that have kept pay in lockstep for decades.