Denver Teachers Approve Pay-for-Performance Plan

Education Week ^ | 3/23/04 | Bess Kessler

[PattonReincarnated]

Denver teachers have voted to embrace a new pay plan that would stop rewarding them for years on the job and start recognizing specific skills and achievements in the classroom.

Approval from the teachers' union puts the closely watched plan into the hands of Denver voters, who will be asked in 2005 for a property-tax increase to pay for the $25 million annual cost.

Members of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association supported the proposal, written as part of the teachers' contract, by a decisive 59 percent to 41 percent. About 2,700 of the union's 3,200 members cast ballots. The 70,000-student district has about 4,500 teachers.

[PattonReincarnated]

I just heard this story on FoxNews - figures it is a few weeks old. I did a google, and this is what I came up with. What I found astonishing about this story is that the teachers voted for this. What is next? Teachers busting their own unions? I only hope.

[Support Free Republic]

Donate Here By Secure Server

[Tacis]

Don't you believe this!! Teachers are the scummiest unions in the country! Look at the part about the $25 million increase. The costs go up but instead of rewarding longevity, they say, they'll reward performance. My bet is that they have simply defined performance as "years on the job."

Teachers ALWAYS strive to get out of the classroom and into administrative jobs. Just because these words say that the reward emphasis has shifted doesn't mean that the union will allow inept teachers to be terminated. But, it will cost an additional $25 million but it isn't clear what the sucker tax payers will get for that, if anything.