Reply #63: i am for merit pay, but I haven't seen a merit pay plan that

[Still Sensible]

makes sense--for many of the reasons others have stated here. The common problem most public schools face is an incredibly broad range in the quality of teachers. Most schools have some great teachers, some very good teachers, some average teachers and some poor teachers. And of course you sometimes come across the unbelievably poor teacher.

All of the "...atmosphere of favoritism, backstabbing, and behind-the-scenes politicking" exists now in every school I have come across. Would a merit pay system make those phenomena worse? Hard to say, but it certainly wouldn't appear to be something that would make it any better.

Teachers are terribly underpaid. The most cited reasons for this come from "conservatives" who blovate about teachers only working nine months, having shorter work days and the like, which is pure bullshit. My wife is a teacher with 25 years experience and I assure you it is more than a full time job. She spends more than half her summer preparing for the upcoming school year and attending classes and workshops. Schools are very often overstaffed in administration and understaffed with teachers. This is because the "admin" avenue is one of the very few ways people in the field have any chance for advancement. Many good teachers leave the classroom and enter administration because it is the only way they have to get a promotion. These two issues must be addressed in any new, large scale plan.

The other problem that complicates all this is that it is very hard to remove a "tenured" teacher even if that person's performance is questionable or downright weak. Once a teacher earns tenure, often the only way they can lose that job is by downright immoral or illegal behavior.

All that said, I keep an open mind hoping for some measures that can deal with these issues and improve the public school systems.