State Incentives Tied to Test Scores Pose Dilemma for Teachers

The Los Angeles teachers union faces a dilemma. Should the same union that is fighting efforts to link pay to performance in contract negotiations participate in a state program that will award hefty bonuses to teachers who raise test scores?

Some union members say that teachers should refuse the state money, which in some cases could be as much as $25,000. But United Teachers-Los Angeles President Day Higuchi disagrees.

“If we were able to stop the state in some way, we would. But [the money] is coming,” he said. “It’s like manna from heaven. Do you give it back? No.”

At the same time, Higuchi calls such a merit pay arrangement divisive and unsound. Participating in the state awards program--and helping to divide some of the money--could undermine the union’s argument against teachers’ bonuses in its ongoing contract talks with the Los Angeles Unified School District, some observers say.

Just last week, the union balked at the district’s latest teachers’ incentive proposal, which would tie increases in reading scores on the Stanford 9 tests at 55 schools to teachers’ stipends of as much as $2,000.

“It’s a very difficult situation to be put into,” one union official said of the state award money. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

But second-year teacher Megan Zusi knows precisely what she will do: Take the money.

“There’s nothing wrong with being recognized for what you’re doing and what the kids are learning,” said Zusi, 26, who stands to nearly double her $32,000 salary at South Park Elementary School.

The South Los Angeles school is among several low-performing campuses that may qualify for big awards for teachers, according to district officials.

South Park’s test scores shot up last year--more than triple the expected growth. Principal Karen Rose said that any award money would boost morale, make it easier to recruit top-notch staff and keep teachers from moving elsewhere.

“Of course we’ll take the money,” said Rose, who also would qualify for an award. “We’ll take it, and we’ll be happy.”

Teachers unions generally oppose merit pay, even as a few school districts across the country experiment with the concept. The same dilemma faced by union leaders in Los Angeles is being faced in many school districts as a result of the state program.

Sacramento is tying $677 million in incentives this year to increases in Stanford 9 scores.

Most of the bonus money will go to schools that raise test scores by a prescribed amount. Every employee at the school--custodians, cafeteria workers, teachers and principals--will receive money. Individual schools will decide how to distribute the funds.

The most tantalizing awards program--worth $100 million--is reserved for teachers and administrators at low-performing schools that post the most extraordinary gains. Those educators can reap bonuses of $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of their gains. In all, more than 12,000 teachers at 250 schools statewide are expected to receive the extra money.

It’s this $100-million pot that poses the biggest problem for unions. That’s because local school districts must negotiate with the unions on how much individual teachers get. Officials could give more to some teachers and less to others, depending on what criteria they want to use, such as seniority.

If districts and unions fail to reach agreements, the state will step in and distribute the money.

One teachers union official in Los Angeles said the union might refuse to negotiate as a protest against the bonus program.

Union leaders and some of their members say that merit pay will undermine the cohesion that is so important to teaching staffs.

“There’s no way you can measure one teacher against another or one school against another,” said one teacher at a Westside elementary school. “If scores don’t go up at one school, it doesn’t mean that teachers aren’t doing their darndest. I’m against the whole concept.”

Nevertheless, leaders of the Los Angeles union say the state bonuses could serve a useful purpose in their negotiations with the district. They argue that the state’s merit pay system can substitute for the one being sought by the district.

“It should take the issue off the table in” the Los Angeles district, Higuchi said.

Supt. Roy Romer disagreed. He said the state’s incentive plan cannot stand in for the one he has proposed.

“This is on the table because it’s tremendously helpful in helping kids learn to read,” he said.

The haggling between Romer and the union is only a distant echo at many schools, where teachers eagerly await news about the state bonuses.

“I’m a member of the union, and the union speaks for me,” said South Park teacher Rachael Craig. “But personally, I’d like to get some extra money if I’m doing a good job. Extra money doesn’t hurt.”