TEACHER INCENTIVES WILL IMPROVE OUR SCHOOLS
By Representative Kent Grusendorf and David O. Russell

This opinion-editorial received coverage in the Dallas Morning News (June 22, 2005, page 19A), the Fort Worth Star Telegram (May 1, 2005), the Waco Tribune (June 24, page 15A), and the Beaumont Enterprise (May 10, 2005, page 10A), along with other daily and weekly papers.

Now that lawmakers have returned to the Capitol to reopen the debate over how to improve our schools and where the funding should come from, we should remember that without the best teachers to implement our education system, it won’t be a success. Unless we improve our current compensation system, we will continue to lose our more experienced educators to the private sector and fail to attract the brightest recent college graduates.

New teachers earn on average $8,000 less per year than other recent graduates under the current compensation system, research shows. It takes a teacher about 20 years to reach the top salary level – a level many will never reach because they will have long ago left the classroom for better-paying opportunities.

The Texas Education Reform Caucus – a bipartisan group of educators, business leaders and elected officials – believes teacher incentives support quality teaching and raise student achievement.

The Caucus supports the proposals made during the regular legislative session by both Senate and House education committees that would introduce campus-level incentive plans and financial incentives for educators placed at hard-to-staff campuses or in subject areas with a shortfall of teachers, such as math, science and special education.

House Bill 2 proposed that the specific design of the incentive program itself would be left to the teachers in each district. The funds could be spent on bonuses for experienced teachers who mentor new teachers, outstanding teachers at educationally disadvantaged campuses, or exceptional teachers who improve student performance.

While the business world has proved that incentives inspire top achievements, excellence in the classroom is not inspired or rewarded. The 100-year-old salary structure, based solely on years of service and academic credentials, does little to reward job performance. We must expand teacher compensation measures to reward different responsibilities, knowledge, skills, experience and results in the classroom that raise student performance.

Sure, there are obstacles to implementing an incentive plan, and districts would need time to develop a successful framework, but redesigning the compensation system can be done with adequate funding and a solid evaluation system.

In this special legislative session devoted to public education, we must make sure that the important issue of financial incentives is not derailed.

A strong, qualified, motivated teacher workforce is the best education investment our state can make.

Rep. Kent Grusendorf is chairman of the House Education Committee and founder of the Caucus.

David O. Russell was the 2004 chair of the Caucus, a non-profit organization dedicated to education reform, and vice president of external affairs for Verizon.