Teachers should receive a bonus if they are willing to make the extra effort in their classrooms, says Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper.
HB328, a bill aimed at boosting teacher quality, moved through the House with a 65-7 vote Wednesday after some hefty debate among lawmakers. Hughes said he wants to "reward teachers to go above and beyond" their regular duties.
The potential legislation has a $300,000 price tag, and that is where the controversy lies.
Rep. Christine Watkins, D-Price, told the House she simply can't accept this cost during a year of budget cuts. "It's not the time for it," she said.
Other lawmakers questioned whether the bill would tempt school districts to lower base salaries.
The State Board of Education and the State Office of Education support the bill.
Teachers would be judged 40 percent on student learning gains. But Hughes said doesn't necessarily mean test scores. The bill allows school districts to define "student learning gains."
Teaching would be judged 40 percent on their teaching quality through classroom observation. The remaining 20 percent is based on parent, student or community satisfaction regarding the teacher.
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I am glad to reward good teachers. Money is tight now and will become much tighter. The voucher bill had the potential to raise teacher salaries, reduce capital expenditures for schools, smaller number of students per classroom. There were problems More..
The did this last year with the performance bonus. We had to do extra things to qualify for the bonus in our district. Then they pulled the funding. The old saying applies here, fool me one shame on me, I promise they won't fool me twice.
So when the students decide they don't like the teacher and purposely fail the tests, the teacher can say good bye to 40% of the money s/he had been working for? What if the parents decide a certain teacher is too strict on their children and More..