Daily Breeze Endorses Merit Pay Initiative

The Daily Breeze today endorsed the Merit Pay Inititiative -- part of Governor Schwarzenegger's package of reform initiatives. California Club for Growth President Tony Strickland and Director Shawn Steel are co-proponents of the initiative.

The Daily Breeze wrote:

The common-sense idea of merit pay for public schoolteachers pits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger against one of the most hidebound -- and politically muscular -- lobbies in Sacramento, the California Teachers Association. Even more important, the clash juxtaposes the self-interests of unionized teachers against the needs of students.

Pay based on performance, rather than seniority, is the norm throughout America's private sector, including parochial and independent schools. In the private sphere, teachers are evaluated by their principals and paid according to their abilities in the classroom. Good teachers are more highly rewarded than poor teachers. This approach is the cornerstone of accountability -- and a spur to higher student achievement.

No Accountability

The concept is not a difficult one for most people to grasp, because most workers in the United States are paid according to merit, not simply according to the number of years they have been on the job. Not so, however, with most public school teachers. Hard-working standouts are paid no more than teachers who are mediocre clock-punchers. Consequently, there is no accountability in how teachers measure up in the classroom. Under this system, the only incentive is to mark time until retirement. Creativity and extra effort by superior teachers are devalued, if not ignored altogether.

Schwarzenegger proposes to change all of this with a constitutional amendment allowing school districts to implement merit pay instead of the seniority-based salary schedules demanded by teachers unions. Nearly all of the state's 300,000 public school teachers are represented by the California Teachers Association, which helps explain why it is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Sacramento. The governor rightly decries the dismaying fact that talented instructors are paid not one penny more than those who collect a paycheck for "just showing up." Yet the CTA's clout with the Legislature is so overwhelming that Schwarzenegger's merit pay plan was dismissed out of hand by Democratic lawmakers who control the Senate and Assembly.

Late last month the Senate Education Committee effectively killed the governor's proposal after only a brief hearing. Meanwhile, Democratic State Superintendent Jack O'Connell, a favorite of the teachers unions, assailed merit pay as an idea that would "make teaching less desirable." O'Connell wailed that holding teachers accountable in their paychecks "would pit teacher against teacher when we know that collaboration is the key to improving student achievement."

In truth, the defenders of the sclerotic seniority system are sacrificing the needs of students in order to placate highly vocal teachers unions.

Sacrificing Student Needs

"The special interests are already out there trying to do everything possible in order to block true reform," Schwarzenegger aptly declares. "I have said that the children should have the first call on our treasury, but I also believe very strongly that the children should have the first call on reform."

Of the governor's four major reform proposals, merit pay is perhaps the one least likely to win legislative approval. That is why a ballot initiative endorsed by Schwarzenegger is the only likely avenue by which his proposed constitutional amendment will reach voters for consideration.

Under the calcified status quo, those who are shortchanged the most are largely students of color in low-achieving inner-city schools.

The stale seniority system devised by teachers unions applies not only to salary levels but also to school assignments. Therefore, teachers with the most seniority get the first pick of schools. This means the least experienced teachers are assigned to what unionized teachers regard as less desirable classrooms.

This rigid system concentrates lesser-paid neophytes in inner-city classrooms and higher-paid, seasoned teachers in the suburbs. A report by the Education Trust-West, a policy group that focuses on the needs of poor and minority students, documented this glaring disparity in teacher quality. It found that low-performing schools in California's 10 largest school districts generally are staffed by lower-paid teachers with limited experience. The best and brightest teachers are assigned to schools in prosperous white neighborhoods.

Incentives For Teachers

Under Schwarzenegger's proposed ballot measure, school districts would have the ability to offer extra pay to talented teachers who commit their energies to underperforming schools. Districts also would have the option to extend higher pay to teachers who raise student test scores, regardless of whether the improvements occurred in inner-city schools or suburban schools.

The important thing is to set standards of some sort so that teachers are held accountable for their performance -- just as nearly all other American workers are.

Comments

[Dr. Robert N. Cleaves]

The following is my e-mail message to the Governor regarding merit based pay for schoolteachers and for pension reform:

I spent two days asking my friends to sign your petitions for merit based pay for school teachers and for pension reform. I collected 40 signatures. Now I learn that you are backing off from your pension reform petition and will be backing off on merit based pay for school teachers.

I guarantee you that you will not receive my vote in the future nor the votes of my friends if you do not stand up and fight for what you have started. I would rather fight and lose than cave in to these bastards in the unions and legislature.

If you are the governor of the people then act like it. Be a man and not a "girlyman."

Last, you also better not back down on how political districts are to be drawn. That would be the last straw.