By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

MARRYSVILLE, Mich. – District and union officials in Michigan’s St. Clair Intermediate School District have worked out a new merit-based pay system that will give provide higher pay for effective teachers and freeze salaries for poor ones.

The new system is the first in Michigan (and one of only a handful nationwide) to base teacher salaries on merit.

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The progressive pay scheme is part of a tentative collective bargaining agreement recently negotiated between the St. Clair County Regional Educational Services Agency and the Intermediate Education Association, which represents 51 teachers in the district, the Detroit Free Press reports.

RSEA’s board of education approved the contract last week, and union officials are currently tallying member votes on the proposal.

Despite a history of opposition to merit pay proposals, officials with the Michigan Education Association – the state’s largest teachers union – are surprisingly supportive of the plan, and may work to implement it in other schools in the future, the Free Press reports.

“I’m going to be watching this like a hawk,” Michele Israel, an MEA negotiator for several local unions in St. Clair County, told the news site. “If this works out the way that we are anticipating it’s going to, I will figure out how to make it work in my other districts.”

RESA Superintendent Dan DeGrow told the Free Press he approached the union with the merit pay proposal, which moves away from the traditional system that bases teacher salaries on years of service and college credits.

“It’s about treating you as a professional and putting you in a situation where those who excel are rewarded,” DeGrow told the Free Press.

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The new compensation program would be tied to annual teacher evaluations. Half of evaluation scores would be based on student achievement, with the other half based on other types of performance assessment.

The salary schedule would include pay ranges from $38,000 to $46,000 for ineffective or minimally effective teachers, $40,000 to $70,889 for effective teachers, and $45,000 to $75,000 for highly effective teachers.

Teachers would need to be rated in a higher category for two consecutive years to move into a higher pay bracket, the Free Press reports.

We believe that the current seniority-based pay scale in most public schools has dragged down student achievement. There is little incentive for teachers to work harder and help their student learn more, particularly for tenured educators with a great deal of job security.

We commend school and union officials in St. Clair County for being among the first in the nation to implement a much improved approach to teacher compensation.