Editorial: Paying teachers? Well...

Why not pay more for the hardest jobs?

January 11, 2005

The unacknowledged elephant in the room in California's public education system is this: The state's most experienced teachers tend to teach the best students at the best schools. Schools serving large numbers of poor, minority and English-language learners have the most difficult time recruiting and keeping teachers. So students at the most struggling schools are more likely to face new or underprepared teachers who lack full credentials.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, education leaders, teachers and parents should be able to come together to find ways to address this problem. In his State of the State address, Schwarzenegger touched on one option: "I propose that teacher pay be tied to merit, not tenure," Schwarzenegger said. "And I propose that teacher employment be tied to performance, not to just showing up."

Unfortunately, too many in the education establishment immediately jumped all over this as somehow "demonizing" teachers. Yet teachers know better than anyone else that those who work with difficult students in struggling schools have to work harder and put in more effort. Surely, California teachers would support financial incentives for teachers who work in tough neighborhoods with low-performing schools.

How can anyone in good conscience resent performance bonuses for teachers who take on harder assignments? California needs an incentive system to entice first-rate teachers into hard-to-staff classes and schools.

Why not give performance bonuses for teachers at lower-performing schools when test scores indicate extraordinary improvement? Why not give bonuses to teachers who earn national board certification, with an additional bonus if they teach for four years in a lower-performing school?

Such bonuses send a message of gratitude for taking on challenging work. Schwarzenegger's pay proposal is a useful place to begin the discussion. California needs to do something different to ensure that all children have access to quality, experienced teachers.

TOP

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Last modified: January 11, 2005

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