HILLSBORO, Ore. – Public school teachers throughout Oregon, like most of their peers across the nation, receive automatic, annual “step raises” every year, regardless of individual or group performance.

EAGnews looked at the amount spent on step raises in four Oregon school districts in the 2013-14 school year.

The Hillsboro school district paid out $2.9 million, the Salem-Keizer district spent $1.9 million, the Central school district paid out $184,792, and the Cascade district paid $133,450.

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Did the teachers in those districts collectively deserve it?

Opinions on that will obviously vary, but some people believe that salary increases in any industry – particularly the one that prepares children for the future – should be tied to performance.

Otherwise, where is the incentive to improve or maintain general excellence, whatever the case may be?

To measure performance in the four districts mentioned above, EAGnews looked at 2013-14 results from the state’s Smarter Balanced test, which is apparently taken by all Oregon students in grades 3-8, as well as the 11^th grade.

There were 10 categories of test results: reading and math for students in grades 3-5, 6-8 and 11^th, writing for 11th graders, and science for students in grades 5, 8 and 11.

In the Central school district, the percentage of students that met or exceeded standards fell below the state average in 8 of 10 categories.

Some of the reading scores were abysmal. Only 54.6 percent of Central students in grades 3-5 met or exceeded expectations, compared to an average of 70.5 percent statewide. In grades 6-8, 56.3 percent of Central students made the grade, compared to an average of 69.7 percent statewide.

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Math was also a struggle. Only 51.2 percent of students in grades 3-5 met or exceeded expectations, compared to the statewide average of 62 percent. The same pattern held in grades 6-8 (50.7 percent/62.2 percent) and grade 11 (66.5 percent/71.3 percent).

Central students only topped the state average in two categories– eighth grade science and eleventh grade science.

In the Hillsboro district, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations fell below the state average in 9 of the 10 categories. Most of the percentages were pretty close to the state average, with the exception of eighth-grade science (59.9/66.9) and 11^th grade writing (56.2/61.3).

Hillsboro 11th graders topped the state average in science, 64.3 percent to 63.1 percent.

Results were a little more mixed in the Salem-Keizer district, where the percentage of students meeting expectations surpassed the state average in three of the ten categories – 11^th grade reading, Grades 6-8 math and 11^th grade math.

The two worst scores were reading in grades 3-5 (62.3 percent/70.5 percent) and math in grades 3-5 (54.3 percent/62 percent).

Students in the Cascade district had the best results, topping the state average in six of the 10 categories.

While there will always be debate over whether teachers should be judged and compensated based on student performance, financial realities are what they are.

Most public school districts across the nation have spent the past five or six years struggling to make ends meet due to dropping tax revenues and decreasing state aid.

That has obviously been the case in at least two of the Oregon districts mentioned above.

The Salem-Keizer school district made $144 million worth of budget cuts between 2009 and 2013, according to media reports. The district’s interim superintendent was quoted last spring as saying “we’ve just barely scratched what we cut.”

The Hillsboro district made more than $7 million in budget cuts in 2013-14, according to media reports, yet still paid out nearly $3 million in automatic, annual raises,

Go figure.