Buyout in D.C.

The chancellor's plan to reinvigorate the teaching staff is commendable -- and is meeting resistance.

D.C. SCHOOLS Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee recognizes that there is no easy, magic solution to the challenge of turning around the city's troubled schools. She does know, though, that the single most significant factor affecting student learning is teacher quality. That's why she is right to want to shake up and reinvigorate her instructional staff.

As many as 700 teachers could receive financial incentives to leave the system under a buyout plan unveiled last week. Any teacher eligible for retirement or assigned to a school set to be closed or restructured would receive a bonus ranging from $1,000 to $20,000, depending on his or her years of service. Those who were set to retire would get nice bonuses. Others who are worn out by their jobs or are uncomfortable with the system's ongoing reform efforts get an incentive that might help persuade them to leave. Sounds like a win-win proposition, particularly since the plan is strictly voluntary.

Nonetheless, it has precipitated the predictable backlash from those teachers and union officials more concerned about their interests than those of students. Much of the anger centers on a feeling that the schools should have been more generous in offering early-retirement packages to teachers nearing the age of eligibility. Such a package is available to city workers. That some are "insulted" by the money being offered speaks to the adult sense of entitlement that is responsible for many of the system's chronic troubles. We have no doubt that Ms. Rhee, too, would have preferred the ability to get rid of more people, but budget constraints and legal obstacles couldn't be overcome.

Nearly 200 teachers have so far signaled an interest in the buyout, and there's always the danger that good teachers -- of whom there are many in the system -- will be lost. School officials should take whatever steps are practicable to guard against that. Of equal importance will be recruiting and training the kind of teacher who can make the difference in the education of a child.