Innovative Teachers' Contracts in Danger in Denver

The Wall Street Journal reports that school teachers in Denver do not like the pay for performance concept. They are staging sick-out and there is talk of a strike. According to the Journal, the Denver School District district is willing to offer bonuses of up to $3000 as a incentive pay to teachers willing to work in impoverished schools or to teach unpopular subjects. An interesting aspect of the program is that the bonuses are not merely one-time rewards; they are added to base salary and thus are cumulative.

The Union would like to see pay increases of course, but would like to see them more evenly distributed. Also, the current policy favors the young, ambitious and mobile over more veteran teachers. This may become a big issue around the time of the Democratic National Convention, because Barack Obama has often cited the Denver pay-for-performance plan as a model.

[Jeremy Telman]