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August 10, 2006
Some learn the hard way
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has discovered through sad experience that you just don't mess with the teachers union:
Education reform has stalled in Massachusetts, but not for lack of good ideas from the governor's office.
The first and largely successful phase of reform, launched in the mid-1990s, required the development of clear standards and sound student assessments. Romney now offers a sensible two-pronged approach for the next stage: Close the achievement gap between poor and wealthier students; and ensure that Massachusetts students can compete internationally, especially in math and science. Romney's last two budgets targeted millions of dollars for such purposes. But his proposals didn't survive the legislative process.
Differential pay for employees with hard-to-find skills is not a radical concept.
Science and management professors, for example, earn higher salaries at colleges and universities, including unionized campuses.
It's just the market, nothing personal," says Robert Costrell, an economist and, until recently, education adviser to Romney. The governor's latest budget included $10 million for pay incentives as a first step toward building a stronger teaching corps in math and science. But the Legislature ignored the effort. Also dead on arrival was Romney's $25 million line item to offer merit pay to outstanding teachers. Union leaders and even some administrators often describe merit pay as too subjective and potentially divisive. But differential pay is neither. And the need for good math teachers is clear, especially in the elementary and middle schools, where only about 40 percent of students score at the proficient level or above on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam.
Too bad he didn't learn a cautionary tale from Schwarzenegger.
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