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Lansing School District Ignores Law Requiring Teacher Merit Pay
Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 1/20/2017 | Derek Draplin

Posted on 01/27/2017 9:43:46 AM PST by MichCapCon

The Lansing School District does not have a merit pay system to reward top teachers despite a seven-year-old law that requires extra compensation for good performance.

A Freedom of Information Act request sent to the district was met with a response: “The LSD does not have a merit pay system for its teachers.”

In 2010, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a law that required school districts to give successful teachers bonuses, something often referred to as merit pay. The law was signed in response to the federal government’s “Race to the Top” program.

State law says that public schools must “implement and maintain a method of compensation for its teachers and school administrators that includes job performance and job accomplishments as a significant factor in determining compensation and additional compensation.”

Lansing Superintendent Yvonne Caamal Canul did not respond to a request for comment.

In the 2015-16 school year, 45 percent of the district’s teaching staff — 296 of its 680 teachers — were given the highest rating of “highly effective” by administrators.

Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said a good merit pay system attracts better teachers to districts.

“The old single salary schedule is an inefficient, unsustainable way to deliver education,” he said. “Merit pay done right rewards educators who make the most positive impact and discourages those who aren’t cut out for the job. Perhaps most importantly, it sends a signal that brings more of the brightest and best into the profession where they can hone their talents and help students learn.”

“Meaningful pay reform may not be the most convenient approach for adults in the system, but the potential rewards are great,” DeGrow added.


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: pay

1 posted on 01/27/2017 9:43:46 AM PST by MichCapCon
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To: MichCapCon

2 posted on 01/27/2017 9:46:02 AM PST by CharlesOConnell (CharlesOConnell)
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To: MichCapCon

Union says: “WE are the law.”


3 posted on 01/27/2017 9:52:29 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: MichCapCon

Union rules. Everybody is paid the same rate. No incentive to excel, you’ll only be carrying your useless coworker’s dead weight.


4 posted on 01/27/2017 9:55:01 AM PST by factoryrat (We reserve the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: factoryrat

Only way to make it work would be to bypass the school district and union, and have the state directly give a merit bonus.


5 posted on 01/27/2017 10:06:03 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Socialists want YOUR wealth redistributed, never THEIRS!)
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To: CharlesOConnell

Who EXACTLY DEFINES “good performance”? Common Core proponents?


6 posted on 01/28/2017 11:53:50 AM PST by hawg-farmer - FR..October 1998 (------->VMFA 235 '69-'72 KMCAS <------- "Death Angels")
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