NJ (dem) Senate President open to merit pay -- sorta

[no_hypocrisy]

New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney says he could support merit pay in classroom so long as schools, not individual teachers


Senate President Stephen Sweeney The South Jersey Democrat tells The Associated Press a merit pay bill that rewards schools for exceeding educational expectations could be debated before the Legislature recesses for the winter holidays.

However, the Senate president says he won't consider a merit pay proposal for teachers because of the politics involved in giving bonuses.

Sweeney controls which bills get posted for discussion and votes in the Senate.

Gov. Chris Christie has proposed changes to public education that include eliminating lifetime teacher tenure, tying teacher evaluations to student achievement and establishing a system of merit pay.

-more-

http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/Merit_pay_for_schools_may_make_the_grade_in_NJ.html

Sweeney is trying the tactic of appeasing our governor, Chris Christie, who wants to eliminate tenure and install merit pay for teacchers.

It won't work.

1. Christie will never accept compromise. He wants merit pay for teachers, not schools.

2. The plan is unsustainable. How do you rate a conglomerate of teachers at a school to allow "merit pay" for that school without evaluating the teachers to begin with?

3. Sweeney already enabled Christie with the help of Sheila Oliver in the democratic controlled Assembly by cutting the wages of public school teachers and taking out a bigger share of their pay to fund their health and retirment funds. Quisling.

4. It has to be repeated: Stephen Sweeney is a democrat who is the majority leader in the democratically controlled NJ Senate. This is something I'd expect were the Senate controlled by a benign republican leader.

[atreides1]

1. I'm open to merit pay

For politicians...why not pay them when they're actually worth!!!