"The leaders, I don't think, sometimes don't want to listen to what their members are saying," he said.
The governor met briefly with reporters in his office after three bills were introduced, all aimed at strengthening student performance through promotion of teachers according to their effectiveness. One, Senate Bill 386, sets the mechanism for basing pay raises on the improvement in student scores as well as assessments from fellow teachers and the principal on classroom instruction. A second bill makes it unlawful to tamper with students' standardized tests that the teachers will be evaluated on, and the third strips the pension from any teacher guilty of test cheating.
Perdue's spokesman released the results of the survey conducted by The Parthenon Group which was distributed to every school system with the request that it be handed to each teacher. More than 20,000 returned responses, 15,300 from teachers and the rest from administrators.
While just half said that effective teachers are recognized and rewarded, 83 percent said evaluations were consistent and objective in their own districts. However, 63 percent said that ineffective teachers were not consistently removed from classroom jobs.
Just 47 percent said that "increases in salary should be driven by teacher effectiveness." On the other hand, 73 percent said that "teachers who distinguish themselves as effective should have career-advancement opportunities."
One aim of the pay proposal is to improve student performance by rewarding the educators who influence it the most. Under the proposal, teachers judged the most effective could earn as much as high school football coaches, according to Perdue.
Today, a teacher after 10 years earns about $48,000 compared to as much as $66,000 under his proposal, according to the state's application for the federal grant program Race to the Top.
Securing a share in the Race to the Top funds, an estimated $462 million, is a secondary goal of the performance-pay proposal, Perdue said.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, pooh-poohed the survey as not useful since 100 percent of teachers did not respond because it was sent at a busy time as classes were wrapping up for the semester.
Regarding the three bills, he expressed concerns with the pay plan and with taking the pension of someone in a test-tampering case.
"It's way too far to go with that," he said, noting that some instances where test integrity is compromised could be as simple as one student taking out a textbook during an exam.
"Right now, we've got a lot of problems with the legislation," he said, adding that Perdue didn't involve the state's major education organizations in designing the proposal.
In response to critics who say he drafted the pay bill in "relative secrecy," the governor said that the proposal is now before the General Assembly where the public, including interested teachers, have the chance to recommend changes through local legislators.
"The way the process works, the legislature writes the laws. I provide a framework and an idea and a concept that I believe is good for education," he said.
And lastly, No one from my school or any of the schools in my system saw this survey that was supposedly given to all school systems. Shady!
I have been an educator of early childhood for more than twelve years. Even though I consider myself a top-notch teacher in a great school, the idea of a system based on merit pay is very unsettling.
For one, this will undoubtedly scare away potential teachers from teaching at lower socioeconomic settings. The underacheiving schools and the demographically impoverished schools with low to no parent involvement will face a shortage of qualified teachers desiring to teach their students.
Secondly, how will this 'merit' be equal and valid across the diverse board. The playing field isn't necessary level from school to school or class to class for that matter. The classroom is very transient; students come and go from system to system. Last year's students are generally as a rule separated and mixed into different groupings for the next year. These groups pose different and new challenges. A student may have done better in the old setting versus the new. Does merit pay account for a student's family life changing drastically or a parent's failure to help in the child's education?
Voter: Being vocal about a subject does not mean that a group does not merit proper focus. Still, it is not just law enforcement; it is other various agencies(firefighters, etc). The list of groups is rather long and I am not going to list them all.
Carrying a gun makes up for nothing, as it is a requirement while serving in law enforcement. Citizens carry guns, but that does not mean they do so to the detriment of something else. Sending law enforcement off to do its job without weapons is like sending soldiers off to war without weapons: It is an absolutely stupid idea.
I personally have no problem with teachers carrying firearms, but the only need for that would be to protect themselves and others from students or outsiders coming in and making them all shooting victims. Having a weapon earn no one anymore respect than those without, except that I respect those that carry for taking the initiative to provide themselves with their own security(which every law-abiding citizen should do).
While you may believe the first quote in your comment to be a joke, the number is not far form the truth. Illegal aliens are a blight upon this country, as they eat away at services that they do not pay for(through non-payment of taxes or the inability to front the money to pay for other private services). They also tend to send out a large portion of their income outside of the country, which does neither the Unites States or the State of Georgia any good.
We spend far more money today than we have ever spent in recorded history on education, but standards only become worse. Increased spending is not the answer. The answer is to improve the services already provided, kill the services that do not work, then consider a broad public service pay increase from the money saved.
My sister is finishing up her education and will become a teacher in the near future. She could not be happier with her decision to become an educator and I have not heard her complain once about the pay or benefits. I also have a close friend whose wife is currently an educator and she enjoys it. They make a good combined income and she like having so much time off.
That is what many people seem to forget about. While teachers do have to work a lot outside of class grading student's work and attempt functions, they get a lot of time off during a given year. There are people who work much harder in very important jobs that do not get anywhere near that much time off.
In short: If you do not like it, do not do it. It is that simple.
Tell us oh highly educated double major from a prestigious institution how an illegal immigrant pays less tax revenue no matter where they work and play.
I would not give you a one sided political view because I'm not afraid to speak about the facts. Facts no matter if I agree with the out come or not.
I hate illegal immigration and the effects on our society and education system. The fact is you stated they pay less tax and you are wrong. That’s why your highly educated opinion went on a tantrum and never answered a simple question with no political bias.
The last time I checked, Wal-mart quit hiring illegals since getting hit with millions in fines in 2003. Now, there might be contractors that do work for Wal-mart that are hiring illegals, but that is outside of the control of Wal-mart. If you have a problem with the contractors furthering the criminal exploits of illegal aliens, then I suggest you take your issues to the INS, DHS, or any other federal agency that will listen to you.
With such such a strong attachment to ultra-liberal ideologies, it is hard to believe you only have a public education. Wait, you must have been implying that I only have a public education. You must not worry, as I remedied my public education with a double major at a very prestigious institution.
Teachers, in my opinion, are not underpaid. When you look at their salaries, along with their benefits, they are actually well paid. I am sorry that they feel like snowflakes for committing four years of their life to a college education, but I can assure you that they are not. If the State had the money to pay teachers more, then I would be happy to see them get a raise. That is, of course, after other public service workers get their much-deserved raises.
The fact is that Georgia does not have the money to enact this plan and such action will only add to the mounting problems that this State faces. How hard is it for you to understand that you cannot spend what you do not have? The last time I checked, no state within the Union can print more money as it needs it. I guess your ultra-liberal ideologies just continue to shine on.
You last argument is completely premised wrong. It does not matter where a person receives their primary education; it is the drive of the person that matters. The problem is that people continue to become lazy and demand a positive outcome immediately. Hard work and responsibility are strong ingredients in success, but many people have forgotten how to utilize the two.
The same goes for teachers. When I was going through high school, I encountered some decent teachers, but I also encountered a very similar number of horrible and useless teachers. These teachers were just looking for a paycheck and could not have cared less about the students they were teaching. It was up to the student to supplement their education so that they could excel in their college career.
My guess is that nothing has changed around the State, so I believe this plan will only cause more problems.
To say underpaid teachers is the under lying problem assumes the biggest problem is the ability and integrity of the teachers. The problem is more with what the teachers are forced to work with from the politics of the same emotion of the aforementioned Monty.
Home schoolers out perform public school students. Are you telling us that those stay at home moms or dads are paid for their services more than the public school teachers? Hmmmm I don't think it is the pay. The teachers are outstanding in their profession and their integrity second to none.
E.W.: Teachers are not alone in the pay issue, but they do make more than other public service employees with far more dangerous and demanding jobs. While I believe that this is a bad direction for Georgia to take education, I believe there are people worse off at this point.
Teachers, like everyone else, should be happy to simply have jobs. They are certainly welcome to leave their position, if they dislike the pay, but I bid them good luck in finding a new job.
If Georgians are not willing to pay teachers more, then what kind of teachers do we expect? If the Braves were only willing to pay five- to six-figure salaries, what kind of baseball players would we expect?
As it stands, the highly-skilled teachers who continue to teach do it for two things: the love of teaching and non-salary benefits (which are now being eroded by our state). If we put more bogus hurdles in the way, then even more highly-skilled teachers will leave the profession. And, given the poor salaries, we will be unable to attract capable replacements.
Voter: Ruining? He has already ruined the educational system in Georgia and this only adds to the troubles. His faulty logic on switching two year colleges to the "Technical College" system is abhorrent. I re-started my college education at a two year college, so I really dislike that the State is looking to hurt college students. You also have this mess. What could be next to push Georgia to the educational standards below some "third-world" countries?
I elected to obtain my graduate degree outside of Georgia because of the faulty educational system in Georgia. That is not to say that the educators are not good, but the other aspects of state colleges in Georgia are the problem. Hopefully the education system in Georgia can be fixed before it become too much of an issue.
I personally see all sorts of issues with this plan. They are playing "king of the hill" with teacher's salaries. Instead of placing a standard set of metrics by which teachers should use to education(which is highly difficult, in and of itself), the State is going to pay the "top-tier" teachers. In order to be on top, someone must be on bottom. Since the State cannot rewrite physics, then I forsee this bring undue burden on teachers, students, and others.
This will end up enticing some educators to "cook the books", instead of actually teaching children. While I am all for paying teachers a reasonable salary, there are others in government work(law enforcement, firefighters, 911 operators, utility workers, etc) that deserve good pay as much a teachers do.
I would be willing to bet, that if it came to a vote that the GA congress wouldn't take furlough days themselves. Why make all the other state employees that serve us take furlough but they get to sit under that gold dome w/o a worry for their self, their family, or their bank accounts. Where's all out tax money disappeared to?
Now, back to the "Pay for Performance" legislation. If students were assigned to classrooms on a completely random basis the theory would be OK assuming the legislature would fund the raises. However, we all know that students are not assigned on a random basis. "Favorite" teachers get "favorite" students and the rest shake out were the fall.
Thus, the "favorite" teachers will almost always get the raises while others with more difficult teaching assignments will hardly ever be appropriately paid for their efforts.