Patrick proposal would reward school performance, not teachers

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval L. Patrick, whose position on merit pay for educators has shifted over the course of the campaign, will unveil a plan today to reward entire schools for performance instead of individual teachers.

Patrick's proposal, which envisions $51 million in awards every year, thrusts the controversial idea of merit pay back into the limelight in this year's governor's race. One of Patrick's rivals is accusing him of changing positions to cater to the powerful teachers' unions.

Patrick said last year that he supported merit pay for individual teachers, but he backed away from that position after union officials -- and his wife, Diane, a former teacher -- persuaded him it would be counterproductive. Now, he's advocating giving financial incentives to schools that can demonstrate concrete improvement in student achievement.

``I don't think that money is the only way to encourage a culture of continuing improvement, but I think that a tangible and meaningful financial reward is a part of a comprehensive educational reform program," Patrick, a former corporate executive and civil rights lawyer, said in an interview yesterday. He added, ``We have to do it in a way that encourages the whole school to be lifted up."

The plan, which Patrick will announce this morning at Medford High School, calls for more funds for eligible schools that serve many students who are poor, have special needs, or have limited English skills. It also would give special financial incentives to schools that have been deemed low-performing but have shown considerable improvement.

How such a program would work, though, is far from clear. A school's performance would be measured using federal benchmarks set by the No Child Left Behind Act and by an evaluation system the state already uses to measure all public districts. But how much money a school would receive, and how that money can be spent, have yet to be decided.

The focus on providing financial incentives to schools instead of certain educators could be more palatable to teachers' unions, which have strongly opposed any merit-pay system that aims to reward some teachers over others.

But it drew criticism from the campaign of a Democratic opponent, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly. ``This is the third position we've seen Deval Patrick take on merit pay, and it seems that with respect to education policy, he has his finger to the wind trying to sense which way the special interests are blowing," spokesman Corey Welford said in an e-mail.

Reilly, whose wife, Ruth, was a public school teacher for more than three decades, released his education plan earlier this year that did not mention the issue, but he has since said he supports individual teacher merit pay if it's done fairly. ``Tom believes we need to modernize our system of paying teachers so that our best teachers get paid more, and we are able to attract and retain our most talented people," Welford said.

The third Democrat in the race, Christopher Gabrieli, advocated merit pay in his unsuccessful run for Congress in 1998. Now he says he doesn't support it but would not stop school districts from using such a system. His campaign declined to comment yesterday.

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.