Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Merit pay for teachers

Imagine this- actually paying teachers based on merit. Just like the rest of us.

Patrick McIlheran cracks me up sometimes-



Mark Green, apparently figuring that if you’re going to tick off the teachers’ union, you might as well fire for effect, proposes some pretty cool ideas for education.

He suggests expanding school choice, raising the income limits so even more parents can take their state school aid with them when they opt for something other than the local government-run school. He suggests expanding it to all of Milwaukee County.

He also suggests letting MPS teachers live outside Milwaukee if they’d like, finding a way to pay teachers based on how well they teach, and letting any UW campus set up a charter school.

Look for gasping outrage, of course, from those who dislike the idea of parents in charge of education. Doyle’s spokesman — Doyle, in case you didn’t know, has long been a favored client of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the teachers’ union that ran ads for him and has endorsed him — anyhow, his spokesman knee-jerked that Green’s ideas would “cut thousands of teachers.”

Uh, no. If parents can take their state school aid with them to some other school, there will be teachers there, as well, teachers the parents prefer. The only ones who really have to worry are teachers that parents don’t prefer.

3 comments:

Kate said...

What a novel concept... being rewarded for doing a good job! :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, Kate, Heaven forbid THAT happens! LOL

Mark Green really scored a bullseye on this issue.

jeff said...

If you check the news from yesterday, the State Superintendent is recommending that teachers who work in inner city schools receive extra pay also. Also she recommends that the state pick up a larger piece of the School Choice cost for Milwaukee. It seems that even Democrats can become converts to ideas that make sense.