The other day we watched the video "Corridor of Shame." We learned about the deplorable conditions in public schools along I-95 in NC, SC, and GA. Additionally, we talked about profressionalism with Dr. Pope on Weds.
I believe in merit pay because I think it will root out some of the teachers that have become complacent with using the same activities and lessons year after year in their classrooms. It may also help when trying to keep teachers from leaving the profession or transfering from school to school. As we saw in the "Corridor of Shame" part of the reason for transfers is likely due to the poor conditions of some if not many schools.
I currently work in a school that has a very diverse, poor, and behaviorally and emotionally stressed student population. The school is lucky enough though to be nowhere near the condition of the schools in the 'corridor.' Additionally, teacher turn over is about 1 to 2 teachers a year. Usually, the turn over is due to retirement, transfer to a title 1 school, or FMLA (family medical leave).
The recently passed 'Stimulus Bill' includes money allocated to the innovation, repair, and building of schools. It also provides money to states for the prevention of cutbacks and layoffs in education. Here is a website detailing the spending of the bill: http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-plan-a-detailed-list-of-spending.
If the government could distribute the funds equally to each of the roughly 98,905 elementary, middle, and highschools throughout the U.S. each would receive about $140,000 just for improvements. Also, the money to stem off cutbacks and layoffs would be about $445,000 for each school.
Just think how much more confident and proud the students and teachers of a Dillon, SC school could be if they painted the interior of the schools, repaired plumbing, bought new computers, and stocked the library with books post 1947.
The stimulus money is there and now I think it is our public concern as professional teachers to see that the money will be used wisely.
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I'm not sure if I'm all for merit pay yet, because I haven't looked at all the details of it yet.
But I do think that your point about the concern of how schools will be spending their money is important for teachers to pay attention to. If it's distributed equally, that is. Because if the trend we've seen is an indication of the way money is given to schools, then schools like the ones in Dillon County won't be getting their "fair share."
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