The Equity Project, a new charter school in New York City, will open this fall, according to a recent New York Times article. The charter school conducted a nationwide search to hire America’s finest teachers and hired eight teachers, including two Ivy League graduates. They will assume responsibilities traditionally covered by other staff members and will work a longer school day and year. The price for their expected success: $125,000 a year.
It is possible that many bright and qualified individuals would leave the private sector to teach with that type of salary. With the average teacher in Texas making about $47,000, this would be quite a raise.
Texas has the largest teacher incentive pay system in the country, and numerous school districts here reward teachers who perform well. Unfortunately, most school districts continue to pay teachers with a salary schedule that rewards seniority over merit, consuming enormous amounts of resources and restricting the their ability to offer more competitive wages to attract the best and brightest.
Michelle Rhee, chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools, has been wrestling with the teachers’ union for months to implement a contract that would allow her to pay up to $131,000 for senior teachers while giving her more leeway in reassigning and firing teachers. No agreement has yet been reached. Stay tuned.
Why don’t school districts across the country select teachers more carefully, expect them to perform, and pay them accordingly? Maintaining the status quo is much easier than rethinking teacher compensation and trying something new. Hopefully, this “experiment” in New York City will lead to higher student achievement – and encourage more schools to pay well for proven results.
– Paige Perez