In Iowa and Philadelphia, teacher pay-for-performance plans are in serious jeopardy. In Iowa, lawmakers are considering scrapping their state's initiative, which was adopted back in 2001 but never really implemented due to budget constraints. In Philadelphia, district officials are dropping the merit pay plan on the grounds that it's "too expensive, too difficult to administer, and a failure at giving teachers useful feedback." While these developments are disappointing, in New York and Minnesota, we are seeing some signs that there may be hope after all for changing the way teachers are paid. Two major metropolitan area teachers' union leaders in New York have proposed allowing teacher contracts to be negotiated by schools, or even by individual teachers, rather than the present centralized system. In New York City, United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten's proposal would allow groups of schools to negotiate the contracts with teacher representatives and would abolish the "work rules" that regulate what extra-classroom duties can be assigned to teachers. In Rochester, New York, Adam Urbanski, leader of the Teacher Union Reform Network, issued a plan that would go even further--allowing staff in some schools in Rochester to begin negotiating their own contracts as soon as next year. Under his plan, bargaining would be decentralized throughout the district by the end of three years. In Minnesota, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced a plan yesterday to attract the best and brightest to some of the toughest schools in the state. The plan would give principals at five schools sweeping authority to recruit, hire and fire teachers outside of normal union contracts and tenure rules. The teachers in these pilot programs would then be eligible for bonuses of $20,000 to $40,000 based on their performance and student achievement. The state's education commissioner, Cheri Yecke believes that these five pilot programs will "give officials the kind of data they need to study how compensation affects student performance."
"N.Y. union leaders call for schools to write contracts," by Bess Keller, Education Week, October 1, 2003
"Phila. drops merit pay for teachers," by Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer, September 27, 2003
"Iowa's move toward pay-for-performance on verge of collapse," by Karla Scoon Reid, Education Week, September 10, 2003
"Pawlenty pitches paying 'super teachers' up to $100,000," by James Walsh, Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 2, 2003