NEW YORK CITY – Members of New York’s largest teachers union have officially come out against a new merit pay plan that will give $20,000 bonuses to the state’s “highly effective” teachers.

The merit bonuses are reportedly part of New York’s 2014-15 budget that lawmakers approved last week. They will be given to teachers who score well on their annual performance reviews.

But delegates to the New York State United Teachers’ annual convention say the bonuses are dangerous and divisive because they create competition among educators.

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“Competitive compensation leads to union destruction,” said NYSUT member Tomia Smith, according to NYSUT.org. “Any negotiated or non-negotiated means of obtaining these funds would create a competitive atmosphere among our members. The art of education relies heavily on collaboration among colleagues.”

Another NYSUT member said the millions being set aside for bonuses should instead be poured into professional development training sessions that benefit all educators and students.

Enough NYSUT representatives at the convention agreed and passed a resolution calling for the labor group “to lobby for the elimination of the divisive program,” NYSUT.org reports.

In a recent Huffington Post article, education gadfly Diane Ravitch asserts that merit pay plans don’t work.

“ … Merit pay failed in Nashville, where the bonus was $15,000, failed in New York City, where the bonus went to the whole school, failed in Chicago, and has consistently failed for nearly 100 years,” Ravitch writes.

It’s amusing to hear unionists and their apologists argue against merit pay in one breath, while bemoaning the lack of “respect” given to professional educators in the next breath. (“Respect” is union-speak for higher pay.)

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We’d argue that recognizing and rewarding top teachers with $20,000 bonuses is a huge sign of respect, one that elevates the teaching profession as a whole. The idea that teachers are indistinguishable and interchangeable cogs in the K-12 machine – and should be paid on an equal scale – must be offensive and demoralizing to educators who work hard to make their classrooms the best they can be.

We wouldn’t be surprised if the big bonuses don’t make teaching a little more appealing as a career option to top college students.

We’d also point out that it’s the height of stupidity to suggest rewarding the best and hardest-working teachers with bonuses would harm the “collaborative” atmosphere that schools need in order to thrive. If collaboration was so crucial to student learning, then America’s government-run public schools would be setting academic records all over place. Instead, we have a 40-year track record of academic stagnation in this country that strongly suggests “collaboration” and “solidarity” mostly lead to complacency and mediocrity.

Cheers to New York lawmakers for striking a strong blow for excellence and high achievement.