Teachers study merit proposal

Springfield, a financially ailing city, is pushing to accomplish what Governor Mitt Romney has been unable to do statewide -- pay schoolteachers based on their performance in the classroom.

If it prevails, Springfield would become the first major school district in the state to impose a merit pay system for teachers, and the proposal has set off an intense battle pitting the teachers' union against the city and school district leaders.

Springfield, beginning in the fall of 2006 if the teachers' union and city reach an agreement, would dump the traditional system of automatic pay raises based on a teacher's college education and number of years on the job. Instead, teachers would be assigned to one of four professional levels, ranging from competent to expert, and would receive pay raises based on their teaching ability, how often they miss work, and how well their students perform on district tests and other scholastic measures. They also could get a raise if a committee decides they deserve to move up to the next professional level.

The teachers' union has offered its own proposal -- giving each teacher a bonus if an entire school met its goals for improving for the year. Teachers say they oppose linking their pay to their particular students' performance.

Will Rice, a science teacher who is leaving for a neighboring district after nearly 24 years in Springfield, said he held his students to high standards but faced obstacles beyond his control. One year, he had more than 40 students in a class. Typically, most of his students, like those districtwide, come from low-income homes.

''My students don't perform well on tests. I know they don't, when they come in way behind in reading and math skills," said Rice, one of more than 200 teachers who have recently left the district as contract talks drag on, mostly because of the merit pay debate. ''It's not really a fair playing field."

Springfield school district officials, who proposed the merit-pay idea, say they want teachers to be able to earn more for doing a better job, a common practice in the private sector.

''If you're a teacher out there who is consistently day after day busting your butt to teach these kids and you're seeing great results, you get the same pay as the teacher who may be slacking," said David M. Connelly, a Boston lawyer and lead negotiator for the Springfield School Committee. ''There's no incentive for teachers to do well."

Springfield's teachers say they're frustrated about enduring years of low pay compared with other cities and neighboring towns. In 2004, Springfield teachers earned $47,000 on average, lower than nearby Agawam and Holyoke and less than Boston and Worcester.

The teachers' union says the school committee plan is risky because merit pay does not have a long track record in public schools.

''They've shown us no data that indicates that it will help improve student performance," said Tim Collins, president of the 2,500-member union. ''It appears to me that Mitt Romney just wants a line on his resume as he prepares to run for president that he took on the unions and won."

Romney, who appointed the majority of a board that oversees the city's finances, and state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll have been backing merit pay for teachers. Romney spokeswoman Julie Teer said the governor has not reviewed the Springfield plan, but continues to support merit pay.

''Governor Romney believes our best teachers should be paid more. It is very unfortunate that the unions are opposed to this important piece of real education reform," Teer said in a statement.

In Massachusetts, at least three small school systems have tried merit pay and one, Nauset, already scrapped it. Nauset, a school system on Cape Cod, linked teacher pay raises to the school system's MCAS scores in 1999 but stopped three years later because it was too costly for the school system, and the bonuses, $500 on average, were too little to make a difference.

Michael Gradone, Nauset's superintendent of schools, said teachers accepted the district's version of merit pay because it rewarded them as a team rather than individually, like the Springfield teachers' union plan would. ''Our premise was clear: We're all in this together," Gradone said. ''Teachers wouldn't look at a weak class and say, 'I have no chance to succeed.' "

Starting merit pay in Springfield, one of the state's largest (almost 26,000 students) and lowest-performing school systems, would be a plus for Romney, according to education policy group leaders and others. The other districts that have tried merit pay ranged from 850 to 4,200 students.

''The governor is looking for some victories on education policy because this administration has not focused on, nor does it yet have, significant new initiatives in the K-12 domain," said Paul Reville, executive director of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy.

Teer said the merit pay issue is a local matter in Springfield, and the governor has established a strong education record, including creating scholarships for students who score high on the MCAS.

Nationally, many states and school systems have dangled bonuses and other incentives to teachers to raise students' achievement, with mixed results. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger shelved his own plan this year when teachers' unions rallied against it. Boston and Cincinnati tried to institute merit pay in recent years, but could not agree with the unions on how to judge teachers.

Boston school officials, though, said they're still interested in the idea and plan to watch the progress of Denver Public Schools. With the backing of its teachers' union, Denver will ask voters in November to pay for a merit-based compensation package for teachers. Teachers would receive raises based on various measures, including test scores and a willingness to take difficult assignments in a high-poverty school.

Alan LeBovidge, the state revenue commissioner who chairs the Springfield Finance Control Board, said the board and Romney happen to share the view that teachers should be judged on how well they perform.

''That's the American way," he said. ''The parents of the kids in schools that are working probably get judged on a merit basis."

Dr. Joseph P. Burke, Springfield's superintendent of schools, said the city would work with the union to agree on a plan for evaluating teachers, but the district needs a new incentive to push teachers to improve. Some of the city's high-poverty schools succeed while others fail, Burke noted.

''We need to do something different," he said. ''What happens with student learning is more dependent upon the skills of the teachers than just about anything else."