By Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota voters will decide the fate of Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to give bonuses to top teachers, phase out tenure and recruit candidates for critical teaching jobs.

The announcement was made last week, after the South Dakota Education Association submitted more than 30,000 petition signatures to refer the measure to a public vote in the November election, reports SiouxCityJournal.com.  Only 15,855 petition signatures were needed under state law.

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House Bill 1234 was scheduled to become law on July 1, but has been suspended from taking effect pending the outcome of the referendum.

Under the governor’s plan, the top 20 percent of teachers in each school district would receive $5,000 annual bonuses beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. Rankings would be based on a new teacher evaluation system that includes measurements of student progress.

School districts would have the option of creating their own teacher incentive plans or refraining from the program altogether.

“The bill is aimed at improving student achievement by channeling extra money directly to our best teachers and phasing out teacher tenure,” Daugaard said.

Teachers union officials argue the program would hurt the quality of education because teachers might stop collaborating to help students as they compete for bonus money, according to the news site.

That should never be a concern. If there is any evidence that any teachers are refusing to work together for the benefit of all students, they should be quickly terminated.

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In the meantime, American students continued to struggle compared to kids in other nations, particularly in crucial subjects like science and math. It’s clear that public schools can no longer continue to function the traditional way.

Teachers are not interchangeable parts, as the unions want us to believe. Some are more effective than others. The best should be encouraged and rewarded, while the lacking should be pushed to improve or find the door.

On Monday, Daugaard said, “I’m not surprised that the teacher bonus bill was referred because the teachers union put a lot of work into collecting signatures.  I look forward to furthering the discussion with the people of South Dakota on this very important topic.”

Our bet is that the people will side with the governor.