teacher pay news stories on Newser

God Doesn't Want Teachers to Be Paid More: State Sen.

Evann Gastaldo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:38:05 CST

Teacher pay shouldn't be increased, an Alabama lawmaker explained at a prayer breakfast this week, because the Bible says so. "If you double what you're paying education, you know what's going to happen?" asked state Sen. Shadrack McGill. "I've heard the comment many times, 'Well, the quality of education's going...

What's a Great Teacher Worth? $700K

Kevin Spak — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:23:15 CST

What should you do if the excellent teacher your child was supposed to have next year retires? "Correct answer? Panic!" writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , or better yet, get the incoming class to raise $100,000 to convince the teacher to stay—it would be a bargain....

What If NFL Players Were Paid Like Teachers?

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:34:05 CDT

Imagine if every NFL player's salary was based on how long he had played, and if players who made it through three seasons could almost never be fired. "It's about tenure, not talent" in this alternate reality, writes NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton in the Wall Street Journal . And...

For Backbreaking Work, Teacher Pay Is Staggering

Mark Russell — Sun, 01 May 2011 08:34:13 CDT

When America fails in combat, we don't blame the troops for being lazy, we blame the top brass. So why is it that our response to a failing education system is to blame the teachers? asks Dave Eggers, writing with Nínive Clements Calegari in the New York Times . When combat...

It's Time to Give Teachers a Fat Raise

Mark Russell — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:44:04 CDT

Right-wing propaganda aside, America's teachers are underpaid and need to make more if the United States is to compete internationally, writes Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times . "We should be elevating teachers, not throwing darts at them," he says. In 1970, a starting public school teacher earned just $2,...

Schools Not Using Stimulus to Hire Teachers

Kevin Spak — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:22:00 CDT

The federal government gave schools around the country $10 billion to bolster their budgets this spring, in the hope that it would allow them to avoid layoffs or hire new teachers. But many of the nation’s biggest districts aren’t doing that, the New York Times reports. Instead, they’re squirreling the...

DC Teacher's Union Agrees to Merit Pay

Kevin Spak — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:39:00 CDT

Washington DC’s school district has struck a breakthrough deal with its teacher’s union that includes a merit-based pay system and eliminates what DC’s school chancellor called “ridiculous hurdles” to firing ineffective teachers. Teacher’s unions have long opposed linking pay to classroom performance, but they agreed to this one, because it...

Obama to Push Merit Pay for Teachers in Schools Plan

Gabriel Winant — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:42:02 CDT

In a speech today before the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Obama will lay out his plan for American schools, reports the Wall Street Journal . Most controversially, the president aims to expand merit pay for teachers, a measure that Democratic teacher unions are traditionally leery of. If teachers develop...

How to Fix the Education Divide

Matt Cantor — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:43:34 CST

America is facing its “last great civil-rights battle”: the racial education gap, write Joel I Klein and Al Sharpton in a Wall Street Journal . “Today the average 12th-grade black or Hispanic student has the reading, writing, and math skills of an eighth-grade white student,” they note. But bolstered by Barack...