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GSCS has been invited to and will be at a meeting to be led by the Commissioner today where he will present his reform proposals, including merit pay, particularly as they relate to the second round application for Race to the Top funds.
Star Ledger - PRINCETON -- "Promising to make New Jersey’s public education system "the best in America," state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler yesterday said he plans to introduce a package of reforms next week that will include merit pay for teachers.
"Student achievement will be part of the evaluation process for teachers," Schundler said after giving the keynote address at a in Princeton on urban schools..."
N.J. education chief plans 'merit pay' evaluations for teachers
By Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger
May 05, 2010, 7:27PM
New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Bret Schundler today announced he would pursue a "merit pay" based evaluation of teacher performance to determine raises. Schundler appears in a file photo along with Gov. Chris Christie at the Statehouse in Trenton.
PRINCETON -- Promising to make New Jersey’s public education system "the best in America," state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler yesterday said he plans to introduce a package of reforms next week that will include merit pay for teachers.
"Student achievement will be part of the evaluation process for teachers," Schundler said after giving the keynote address at a in Princeton on urban schools.
During his address, Schundler spoke of the need to "focus on accountability" with "the learning of children ... becoming the yardstick.
Schundler said that in New Jersey, the job of providing a thorough and efficient education is the Legislature’s responsibility and promised to release reforms to reflect that.
"You’ll see a proposal very shortly," he said. "The governor and I will support reforms that will make the (state’s) public education system the best in America,"
The commissioner’s list of reforms also includes giving parents more school choice and closing failing schools. He also alluded to possibly tenure reform, saying the state should have a system where ineffective teachers can be more easily replaced.
The measures, he said, will be part of the state’s new application for Race to the Top, a competitive grant program that could award New Jersey up to $350 million for education reform. Schundler said he hoped a merit pay bill could pass the Legislature by June 1, when the grant application is due.
"If we do, it will make our (application) extremely competitive," Schundler said at Princeton University, after a conference on urban school reform.
The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, has long opposed merit pay and tenure reform. The union refused to sign on to the state’s last Race to the Top application, which did not win funding.
NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer said the union has requested a meeting with Schundler to discuss Race to the Top, and plans to meet with him this afternoon. He declined to discuss whether NJEA will soften its positions on teacher evaluations and other issues.
"Hopefully, that’s the beginning of a dialogue," Wollmer said. "We are going to bring some new approaches in. We also have some new ideas we want to share."
Since taking office in January, Gov. Chris Christie and the NJEA have battled almost daily. The governor, who regularly attacks the union as "greedy," has dramatically cut state aid to schools, reined in pensions for new hires and supported tax breaks to companies that sponsor poor children going to private schools.
The NJEA says the is lying about most of the issues.
Merit pay proposals generally use data system to support instruction, tying student performance on test scores to teacher evaluations and compensation.
Both Delaware and Tennessee, earlier Race to the Top winners, included such measures.
Delaware’s new law on teacher/principal effectiveness, for example, says no educators can be rated as "effective" unless their students demonstrate satisfactory levels of growth; teachers rated "ineffective" for 2 to 3 years can be removed from the classroom, even if they have tenure.
Schundler’s call for changes in teacher pay and tenure policies came on the same day the New Jersey School Boards Association called for new laws to eliminate rules it says give unions the upper hand. The association wants lawmakers to streamline the tenure system, enact an anti-strike law and overhaul seniority and bumping rights so districts making layoffs can retain employees that school leaders see as most qualified, rather then being forced to keep those with the most longevity.
Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the association, said his group is scheduled to meet with the commissioner today to discusss merit pay and other proposed reforms.
Belluscio said the association "always thought there is a lot of potential with merit pay," and favors tenure reform.
"If he is going to take on the ‘T’ word, we’re all for it," Belluscio said.
Staff writers Kelly Heyboer and Kristen Alloway contributed to this report
