President Barack Obama’s education priorities announced Wednesday prompted conversation in Manatee on merit pay for teachers, expanding charter schools and lengthening the school day.
Merit pay
Pat Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association, disagrees with the president on teacher merit pay.
“We totally disagree having a discussion about merit pay until all teachers receive a professional salary,” she said. “Florida teachers are paid $6,000 below the national average.”
Various districts and states, including Florida, have tried paying teachers bonuses based on their students’ test scores but most have given it up, Barber said. In Florida, the program was suspended because of the state budget crisis.
“There is no proof that paying teachers more improves student achievement,” she said. “There are so many things faulty about discussing merit pay. Funding is an issue, paying a professional salary is an issue, and what should it really look like is an issue.”
School board member Harry Kinnan thinks the common thread to the question of merit pay is attracting and retaining qualified teachers.
“I think I’d like to see salaries for teachers to go up to a certain level before merit kicks in,” he said.
Charter schools
As for expanding charter schools, Manatee School for the Arts Principal Bill Jones said he wants to know more.
“It will be interesting to see how that translates into dollars and what goes on in the community,” he said. “Charter schools are not inherently more effective than public schools, it’s what you do that makes a difference.”
The effectiveness of a charter school should be evaluated individually, he said.
The school day
The same concept applies to the idea of lengthening the school day, Jones said. It’s what schools do with the students in that time.
“If I can . . . do the stuff I really enjoy, you might get more performance out of me,” he said.
The education of a student goes beyond math, reading and writing, said Kinnan, who favors the idea of a longer school day. Electives such as arts classes are important to the development of students too.
“I am a firm believer in time on task,” he said. “We need to do two things: We need to find ways to extend the school day and we need to find ways to give students more options than they have. . . . It costs money.”
— Sylvia Lim, Herald Staff
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