Let’s begin this column with my email contact; slansley2@gmail.com . Why you ask? There are the same Progressives out there that comment negatively about my opinion every month. The amazing fact is that their comments are not always rooted in the content of the article so, it is obvious they don’t read the column or they interpret it the way they want. All that is said in the comments are what an idiot I am. So I figured I would save them time and effort and just give them my email address right up front.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the task at hand. Those rascally conservatives are at it again, wanting to change a system that is failing and just want to get rid of the unions! That’s right, how dare they put the kids’ education ahead of a system that doesn’t actually educate our kids? How dare they offer incentives to good teachers and reward them for reaching kids and caring about education.

The current system in place rewards teachers on the basis of their years of experience and number of higher degrees. This is used in 95 percent of all school districts across the United States. Where do the students enter into that equation? But I digress.

There are 18 school districts in Maine that have agreed to participate in a $16 million federally-funded pilot program, Maine Schools for Excellence Initiative, that is expected to enhance training for teachers and develop standards for evaluating their performance. The Maine Schools for Excellence Initiative involves plans to evaluate teachers and provide them bonus pay based on how the teachers’ performance affects the students’ performance.

There is currently no system in place to evaluate  teachers’ effectiveness in a classroom.  Across the spectrum, there are  varying opinions regarding the success and effectiveness of our education system. In the private sector, we are evaluated on a daily basis and rewarded for our great work. Sounds like a great pilot program for education, don’t you think so?

Then we have the Maine Education Association and its president, Chris Galgay,  who see things differently. He has said that most professionals in “the private sector have total control over their work,” his words, not mine. Sounds as though he has either never spent a substantial time working in the private sector or it has been a while since he has worked in the private sector. Hey Chris, if you think the private sector professional has total control, just ask the customer service reps who deal with customers over the phone and are let go because they were not accurate or just rude. How about the CEO of a company who has been fired because his company wasn’t profitable due to his warehouse employees not making their goals. The truth is, all private-sector employees, company owners or CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are evaluated based on somebody else’s  ability to do a job properly. According to Galgay, “using private-sector evaluation systems in the field of education is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.” Really?

Galgay believes the whole idea is insulting: “We’re not in favor of merit pay  —  people seem to think that offering a carrot is the way to make teachers work harder. To me, it’s insulting to think teachers aren’t giving 100 percent every day and that you have to add incentives.” Really? Have you asked teachers how they feel about being recognized for their hard work and compensated for their efforts? I know there are those hardline, dyed-in-the-wool union members that will step into line and be a mouthpiece for the union, but do an anonymous survey and see what the results will be. Ya think maybe that is why the professionals in education are trying to do away with the grading system? No — that’s because of self-esteem of the students!

The pilot program involves approximately 450 teachers serving 5,500 students in the following districts: Lewiston Public Schools, SAD 24 (Van Buren), RSU 12 (Whitefield), RSU 55 (Hiram), RSU 74 (Anson). The teachers, administrators, parents and others will work together to decide which specific criteria will be used to measure the performance and effectiveness of the teachers. You mean parties involved are going to be from the districts they work in, combined with the parents of the kids being educated? Why that is just outrageous! Local decisions for local issues? What happened to the one- size-fits-all approach being offered by the MEA? Looks like a win-win for teachers, parents and most of all the students.

The Maine Department of Education will be distributing the funds for the pilot program based on the percentage of teachers in each school district. The incentives are capped under the federal guidelines (strings attached for accepting the money) at $7,500 per teacher, per year. That is a quarter of the $30,000 teacher minimum salary. The individual districts may offer more incentives, at a cost to the local taxpayer, which would increase the incentive above the $7,500 threshold.

One hurdle that will need to be overcome by school districts is how to fund the program once the pilot-program funding runs out in 2015  — especially as funding for education is shrinking. Some experts agree that some teachers may have to be paid less, but are pursuing other grant programs to keep the program going if is successful.

Here’s a thought, if this is successful and performance of the students increases along with test scores, maybe the taxpayers won’t have such a hard time putting up more of their hard-earned money to continue the program. Novel, but worth pursuing.

The fact is, there are many teachers who truly love their profession and show it every day. Those are the teachers who will continue to excel and continue to motivate and be rewarded by their students’ success. Who wouldn’t win with a scenario like that? Isn’t that what teaching is all about?

Sounds as though good old-fashioned capitalism is being injected into a system that gives you the same pay as everybody else, regardless of your performance and effectiveness. Wow, where have I heard of that economic system before? If it makes you feel any better, the product of this broken system is the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd. ‘Nuff said!

That’s my opinion, let me hear yours.

Scott Lansley is a former Maine Legislator, current Sabattus Selectman and Political Director for Maine Taxpayers United.

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