Teacher Panel Calls for Overhaul of Pay Across Profession
- on 04.20.07
- Fund The Child, Funding Reform, General
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The saying that teachers are underpaid is just a myth as I have written about in the past. The Wall Street Journal studied teacher salaries and discovered the average public school teacher salary was $34.06 per hour in 2005. That figure places the average teacher “36% more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty or technical worker”.
Some teachers are finally realizing they have to change the way the profession operates. This includes pay that is based on teacher performance and not on longevity or how many irrelevant courses they take. [Emphasis mine]
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A blue-ribbon team of 18 teachers released recommendations last week that center on doing away with the traditional approach of compensating teachers largely for their years on the job and coursework, and instead paying for the quality and quantity of their contributions to the schools and communities where they work. The proposals include rewarding teachers for taking on leadership roles and for, individually and in small groups, raising student achievement over time. In addition, the recommendations say that teachers should be paid for coursework or workshops only when those activities translate into educational improvements. Not much support for the recommendations can be expected from the National Education Association, which represents about two-thirds of the nation’s public school teachers. President Reg Weaver largely waved away the panel’s recommendations as missing the point that teachers need to be paid more overall for their contribution to economic development. “Many of these plans died because there was not enough money to be fully supportive of it,†he said. “And the way to enhance the economy is to invest in education. … Once salaries get to where they need to be, [we] can talk about a lot†of ways to improve teacher compensation, Mr. Weaver said. |
The teachers in this study used common sense. That is pay the teachers for their quality of work. That quality will show in increased achievement by their students.
The NEA on the other hand wants more money to fund the bureaucracy that feeds it. Notice they never mention teacher quality, they just want higher overall salaries and then they’ll talk about how to raise pay even more.
There is a very simple solution to this problem that teachers and their unions continue to fight against. That is school choice. If you funded the child and stopped funding the bureaucratic system that protects poor quality teachers and results, the issue of teacher pays becomes moot. You may wonder how. First, the money is now in the hands of the parents (the ultimate local control). The parents can choose whatever school they feel provides their child the best education. The money from all sources then follows the child to the school of choice. This forces each school to compete for students. They will have to earn the trust of the parents or lose the funding. This will in turn raise teacher salaries for the quality teachers since the schools have to compete for them to attract the most kids.
There is a downside to this approach, but one that will be welcomed by parents. The result will be the quick jettisoning of bad teachers. The teachers the bureaucracy won’t allow schools to fire now, will be forced out. The schools will not be able to afford the dead weight they have carried for so long. This too will free up money for the quality teachers. The question will be, how many bad teachers will now be unemployed?
A side affect of this entire process will be that the Department of Education and NCLB will no longer be needed. Local control of our schools will be returned and the nationalization of our schools can be halted.
Just to remind you, the simple solution to solving the education funding issues and more importantly the poor quality within the public school system is to FUND THE CHILD, NOT THE SYSTEM.
Great commentary….I know plenty of teachers who are paid EXTREMELY well…it’s very nice to see someone speak that truth….and the NEA is just evil
Thanks. I am just tired of how our government school teachers always want to play the victim, blaming everyone else for why they can’t teach the children of this nation to achieve an acceptable level of education. They don’t seem to understand that until they stand up to their own unions and demand change from them, they will continue to get berated as self-serving bureaucrats.
This is a call to all the good teachers out there. Stand up to your unions; demand change; demand accountability from your administrators; demand accountability from your fellow teachers; demand what is right for the children. When you have done those things, those of us in the public will be more willing to provide more money to help obtain the best education for our children.
The NEA *is* a horrible organization, and there *are* causes for lackof student performance that are outside of the control of the school or teacher. It’s not either/or, it’s both. And both contribute to a poor educational climate.
I’m a teacher and I would welcome “pay for performance” and school choice, believing that I’d come out ahead in such a scheme.
And if there are any California teachers who feel the same way, perhaps they’d be interested in looking at the California Teacher Empowerment Network web site, http://www.ctenhome.org.
As someone who helped support the TeacherSolutions team as they developed their report, I hasten to point out that the report DOES take the position that teachers are underpaid, on average, and agrees with The Teaching Commission (led by former IBM chairman Lou Gerstner) that base pay needs to be increased, in conjunction with incentive-based compensation. While it is true that some union leaders will oppose any report with “performance-pay” on the cover, this report was described by a state union leader just last week as “balanced and nuanced.” Indeed it is. Read it and see for yourself. Go to http://snipurl.com/tsreport