Teacher Bonuses Get Unions' Blessing

School officials in the District and Arlington County have taken steps toward pay-for-performance models. In Arlington, teachers have three opportunities to earn a permanent salary step increase by creating portfolios to demonstrate their abilities. The District recently issued bonuses to teachers at four schools that made significant gains on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has expressed interest in offering "differentiated pay" in a contract under negotiation.

In the Prince George's program, principals and assistant principals also will be eligible for bonuses of up to $12,500 and $11,000, respectively, with as much as 60 percent of the award granted if the school meets testing targets, with the rest given for professional growth and doing well on an evaluation.

John Smeallie, Maryland's assistant superintendent for certification and accreditation, said economic realities are driving a new look at teacher salaries.

"We are in a market-driven situation for teachers more than at any time in my professional career," Smeallie said. "Folks have so many options now. Folks move around more. . . . Education is recognizing that it may be time to look at compensation in the same way the rest of the world looks at it."

But Weil warned that bonus systems require a difficult financial commitment.

"There's been a proliferation of these plans across the country," Weil said, "but a lot of them are falling on tougher times now because of the economy."

Thanks to a $17.1 million federal grant, Prince George's won't have to worry about funding for the incentive program for at least five years. County school leaders also have avoided political strife. Union leaders, school board members and Superintendent John E. Deasy unveiled the pay-for-performance plan side by side in March.

Donald Briscoe, president of the Prince George's County Educators' Association, which represents county teachers, said some details of the county's plan remain to be ironed out. But he said the administration's cooperation with the union and the voluntary nature of the program had eased old tensions over the idea of performance pay.

Carol Kilby, Briscoe's predecessor, is the liaison between the school system and unions on the incentive project. She said the plan is workable.

"No other plan has been inclusive of the union, and that's why we're not kicking it in its teeth right now," Kilby said. "The school system and the union went into this holding hands, so to speak. . . . This is not a traditional union thing to do. In fact, it's kind of a slippery slope. That's why we're planning so much. I liken it to baby-proofing a house."

Some merit-pay programs elsewhere have drawn controversy or flopped.

Florida lawmakers repealed the state's Special Teachers are Rewarded program in 2007 after educators said it was imposed too quickly and without enough input from local school systems. It was replaced by the Merit Award Program, which gave local districts more control and reduced emphasis on state test scores. Fairfax County began a pay-for-performance plan in 1986 but abandoned it during a 1992 budget crisis.

A Denver merit pay program has won praise, and a recent study showed modest gains in the test scores of students under teachers enrolled in the plan. Although the local teachers union and school administrators are generally supportive, they are embroiled in a funding dispute related to the program. The union hopes to raise salaries for veteran teachers, and the school system wants to offer bonuses to teachers at hard-to-staff schools.

Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, said such examples show merit pay is not a cure-all.

"It takes away the focus of what really should be done to recruit and retain teachers, and that is more respect, more support and better salaries." He added: "That's what will get more teachers in the profession."

Weaver said he opposes merit pay programs on principle. But he added: "We support whatever is negotiated locally by the members, whether we like it or not." The Prince George's union is affiliated with the NEA.

Prince George's teachers said after the seminar last month that they would welcome bonuses for more than financial reasons. Acors, 43, said she would appreciate the money -- most teachers with her level of experience are paid about $50,000 -- but there was more to it than that.

"It would just be validation," Acors said. "A lot of teachers, they just want a 'thank you' sometimes. It's not about the money all the time."