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.
