Rick Snyder Likes It Longer, Harder, Faster and Cut
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder confirmed Tuesday that he wants to impose a merit pay system for teachers. The Detroit News suggested that his goal was to reward excellent teachers to keep them in the classroom, rather than seeing them move into higher-paid jobs in school administration. Since few teachers successfully move into administration, Snyder either has a very delusional sense of this “problem” or he believes there are very few “excellent” teachers who deserve merit raises.
Considering that he plans on slashing K-12 funding by $470 per student, there will be a lot less money available to pay teachers. Therefore, when he talks about “merit pay,” what he is really talking about is pay cuts for the majority of teachers, and salary stability for “excellent” teachers. However, excellent teachers will have to become much more excellent to keep their meager
Gates & Broad Purchase LAUSD One Boss At A Time
Los Angeles Unified School District new superintendent, John Deasy, has hired five new over-priced administrators at a time when LAUSD is slashing jobs and educational services and faces a $400 million deficit. The new administrators will be partially funded by philanthropists, particularly the Broad and Gates Foundations, according to the Los Angeles Times. The school board approved all five administrators in a closed door session.
Not surprisingly, Deasy chose the appointments to increase teacher accountability and support the creation of more charter schools. Both goals are consistent with the Broad/Gates agenda of privatizing public school systems and exerting greater managerial control over teachers. Furthermore, many of the new administrators, as well as some of the returning ones, have