Budget shortfalls have led California to abandon its $100 million cash reward program for teachers in schools that demonstrate significant improvements in test scores. While the state will continue to rank schools based on academic gains, state lawmakers have not included any funding for these awards in the 2002-03 budget bill. Critics of high-stakes testing who lobbied to end the program now complain that it???s unfair to distribute cash rewards one year and take them away the next. ???Davis yanks incentives for teachers,??? by Suzanne Pardington, Contra Costa Times, August 3, 2002
