Bacon's Rebellion

Is More Money Really the Answer, Jerry?

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by

James A. Bacon
in

First off, let me give credit where credit is due. Instead of basing his campaign on sound bites and attacks on Tim Kaine, Jerry Kilgore has finally issued a serious position paper. This paper, “Better Pay for Better Teachers” gives us the first meaningful detail into Kilgore’s thinking about education policy. Thank you, Mr. Kilgore, for humoring the policy wonks among Virginia’s electorate — a tiny but vocal constituency.

Second, let me state that Mr. Kilgore addresses a real problem: The increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified teachers into Virginia’s public schools. It is an issue that merits the attention of our gubernatorial candidates.

Now that I’ve gotten the obligatory niceties out of the way, let me get to the point. What are you thinking? Who drew up this plan for you — the teacher’s lobby? What’s your goal here — to run to the left of Tim Kaine?

Kilgore’s solution entails the following: helping teachers repay student loans in exchange for taking jobs in distressed school districts; increasing retirement benefits; providing $5,000 bonuses to teachers who complete the National Board Certification process; and providing $5,000 bonuses to teachers who complete advanced degrees related to their teaching areas. The one really promising idea– creating a performance-based pay system–will be relegated to an Excellence in Education task force.

Here’s what I’m reading between the lines: Even with Virginia schools awash in more state and federal money than they’ve ever had in their histories, we still need to spend more money! There’s nothing wrong with the public school system in Virginia that spending even more money won’t solve. Moving to a performance-based pay system could, potentially, entail structural change. But pardon my cynicism for suspecting that a performance-based system will turn out to be all carrots (reward good teachers) and no sticks (no thought to actually punishing, demoting or removing anyone).

Virginia’s educational system needs serious structural reform. Pouring more money into the system is not likely to yield meaningful improvements to outcomes. There’s always the possibility that Kilgore will have more to say about education, so I’m withholding a final judgment. But he could not have launched a policy initiative less likely to appeal to fiscal conservatives.

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  1. Virginia Centrist Avatar
    Virginia Centrist

    I dunno, Jim. More money or not, I’d think the “pay better teachers more money” argument would go over with the free market types who want the state run like a business.

    I like merit pay. But it has to be done right. I’m just a bit wary that it will turn into high schools jockeying for the best football coaches (who don’t really teach anything) by offering higher pay.

  2. Virginia Centrist Avatar
    Virginia Centrist

    And also – generally the teacher’s “unions” don’t support merit pay. Basically because they represent all teachers.

    Let’s say that merit pay gives raises to the best 15% of teachers. Well that means the unions aren’t going to bat for 85% of their members. That’s the argument I’ve always heard…

    They’re also worried about the good old boy network coming into play here (the football coach thing). If it’s done fairly, I think all sides would go along.

    For example, if you had a rotating faculty panel that evaluated teachers, that would probably work.

    But if you leave it up to principals – well, I think you get the football coach thing.

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Jim, if you really think the VEA will be fans of Kilgore’s plan, then consider the comments from their leadership today:

    From the Roanoke Times- “We try to foster a sense of collaboration, a sharing of ideas,” said Smith, an eighth-grade English teacher at Shawsville Middle School. A merit pay system “is going to foster dissension in the ranks,” she said. [Ms. Smith is identified earlier as the president of the Montgomery County Education Association]

    Just as they were opposed to the SOL’s, the VEA and its affiliates will never support any real differentiation of teachers based on classroom performance. Their idea of collaboration is a pay scale based solely on years of experience, not classroom performance. The VEA is not concerned with having the best teachers in the classroom; their concern lies in making sure that the worst teacher still gets paid as much as the best. Any sort of differentation among teachers, even if it is all carrot as you say, draws their ire.

    Kilgore’s plan of rewarding excellent teachers is the logical next step in moving Virginia’s schools forward. As long as we are muddling through education reform without addressing one of the main drivers of student performance- the quality of the teacher in the classroom- we will continue to make incremental increases at best.

    The other parts of Kilgore’s plan are laudable as well, particularly his plan to pay bonuses to teacher’s who choose to teach in underperforming schools. His plans to encourage teachers in underserved program areas- math, science, and especially special ed- can also can go a good way towards helping fill the teacher gaps in the classrooms. It has been reported that Richmond area school districts have gone on recruiting trips as far away as the Philippines to attempt to find special ed teachers.

    You’ve called for serious structural reforms of education. Given the current lack of financial incentive and reward for teachers to rise above mediocrity in the classroom, to choose to teach in schools that underperform and are not lily white and upper-class, and to remain in the classroom and not flee to an administrative position at the first opportunity, Kilgore’s plan is certainly the type of reform that should be lauded for taking a stand to truly improve Virginia’s schools.

    It is certainly more dynamic and will have a greater impact than Kaine’s recycled call to “fully fund” education, a statement even his own Governor disagrees with.

  4. Jonathan Lyle Avatar
    Jonathan Lyle

    More money is NOT the answer.

    The WSJ ran a commentary piece recently with the observation that IF class sizes had stayed at circa 1958 levels and school funding had increased as it has, teachers would be in the $100,000+ compensation arena. (I can’t vouch for the numbers, but they were intriguing…).

    The commentary futher observed that there is a canard that education is a life-long endeavor, i.e. every 20-something graduate who enters teaching will remain in the classroom for the next thirty years. That is not the employment pattern for any industry, and it’s pushing credulity to think the teaching profession will be the exception that proves the rule.

    My observation is that no matter how much money is poured into public education, it will never be enough to satisfy the “education lobby”. Kilgore’s plan has political appeal, but it doesn’t fit with my sense of how education can be improved.

  5. Jonathan Lyle Avatar
    Jonathan Lyle

    More money is NOT the answer.

    The WSJ ran a commentary piece recently with the observation that IF class sizes had stayed at circa 1958 levels and school funding had increased as it has, teachers would be in the $100,000+ compensation arena. (I can’t vouch for the numbers, but they were intriguing…).

    The commentary futher observed that there is a canard that education is a life-long endeavor, i.e. every 20-something graduate who enters teaching will remain in the classroom for the next thirty years. That is not the employment pattern for any industry, and it’s pushing credulity to think the teaching profession will be the exception that proves the rule.

    My observation is that no matter how much money is poured into public education, it will never be enough to satisfy the “education lobby”. Kilgore’s plan has political appeal, but it doesn’t fit with my sense of how education can be improved.

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