Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

Jackson, Miss.– If Gov. Phil Bryant has his way, Mississippi’s statewide system of seniority-based teacher raises will be kicked to the curb.  Last week, the Republican governor announced plans to implement a new system to pay teachers according to student performance.

At a news conference on Friday, Bryant released a report from Mississippi State University suggesting merit pay should be based on the state’s new teacher evaluation system, reports the gulflive.com.

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“It is time we start paying teachers for quality, not just longevity,” Bryant said.

This marks the third time Mississippi has pushed to pay teachers on merit.

In 2006, the state legislature passed a bill under the direction of then Gov. Haley Barbour to allow merit pay for teachers.  Barbour’s goal was to award $1,000 bonuses to teachers in schools that showed the greatest improvements on standardized tests each year.

But the law dictates that merit pay can only take effect if the Mississippi Adequate Education Plan is fully funded. The state has only met the full demands of the funding formula twice, according to the news site.

In 2010, the state tried again, pledging to implement a pay-for-performance system as part of its application to win a federal Race to the Top grant, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Bryant proposed that the state legislature use the money earmarked for annual step raises for teachers and redirect it to districts for merit pay plans.

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“In the real world, you improve because there is a reason to do so,” Bryant said.

Under the proposed plan, half of a teacher’s grade would be based on how their students perform on standardized tests.

It comes as no surprise that the unions are opposed to the idea.

“This is not supposed to be an evaluation process to get you,” said Kent, president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. “It’s supposed to be an evaluation process to help teachers improve.”

But Rachel Canter, executive director of Mississippi First, a nonprofit organization that advocates for school reform, believes evaluations should carry consequences. Canter said she supports merit pay because equal pay for all is “disrespectful” to the best teachers.

“It gives the message to people that every teacher is exactly the same,” she said.

Gov. Bryant agrees.

“I think we’ve affected the morale of hard-working, excellent teachers that are saying, ‘No matter how hard I work, I get the same pay grade, the same raise as the person next to me that’s not working hard and affecting their student’s outcomes.’”

Many school districts, especially in rural and low-income areas, struggle to attract and retain the most effective teachers.  An incentive-based pay plan would help districts attract teachers in subject areas of high demand, or teach in schools with low test scores or large numbers of students below the poverty line.

If excellent teachers are not fairly compensated in Mississippi, they will go to other states, Bryant said.

Wayne Gann, chairman of the state Board of Education, said that while he believes Mississippi has many good schools and teachers, there is room for improvement.

“Every child in this state does indeed deserve an excellent teacher in the classroom.  And those teachers deserve to be compensated,” he said.

“Creative administrators have, over the years, found all kinds of ways to reward good teachers. And we have to think outside of the box in order to… improve the quality of education in this state.”