Archive for October 21st, 2008

Check out the great story appeared in USA Today regarding teacher bonuses tied to improved student test scores.  What a novel idea, paying for results, holding a buaracracy like the American public education system accountable for their students performance. 

   A few examples:

• In Chicago, teachers at a handful of schools can earn up to $8,000 in annual bonuses for improved scores, while mentor teachers and “lead teachers” can earn an extra $7,000 or $15,000, respectively.

• In Nashville, middle-school math teachers can earn up to $15,000 based on student performance.

Do such plans work? A research center launched at Vanderbilt University to study performance pay has found mostly promising, if limited, results.

Realizing the importance of the K-12 education system on economic development Denver voters agreed to raise their taxes and approved a $25 million teacher pay increase package – with one catch increases were to be based on merit.

ProComp has four components that allow teachers to build earnings through nine elements:

Knowledge and Skills – Teachers will earn compensation for acquiring and demonstrating knowledge and skills by completing annual professional development units, through earning additional graduate degrees and national certificates and may be reimbursed up to $1,000 for tuition.

Professional Evaluation – Teachers will be recognized for their classroom skill by receiving salary increases every three years for satisfactory evaluations.

Student Growth – Teachers will be rewarded for the academic growth of their students. They can earn compensation for meeting annual objectives, for exceeding CSAP growth goals and for working in a school judged distinguished based on academic gains and other factors.

Market Incentives – Bonuses can assist the district and schools in meeting specific needs. Teachers in hard to serve schools—those faced with academic challenges—can earn annual bonuses. Bonuses will be available to those filling hard to staff positions—assignments which historically have shortages of qualified applicants.

Add in a financial incentive and the quality and caliber of our public education system will increase.  Nation wide over half the teachers leave the profession within five years and we are so desperately lacking math teachers that 1/3 of middle and high school math teachers are by someone lacking even a college minor in math.  Increase the education levels of our greatest assets, children and one more leg of our economic prosperity will be achieved.

TUSD is looking for a budget over ride this November (Proper 403). I for one would feel a lot more comfortable increasing my taxes if there were measurable results.

Rio Nuevo, GTEC, TREO, Downtown Alliance – the list goes on. Each of these groups started with the greatest intentions and have all struggled to show results. At the end of the day Tucson continues to loose. We are unable to break away from our BIG THREE industries. (real estate, tourism, government)  This blog and our authors will attempt to outline and highlight where and how we are off track.

A note on our unfriendly business climate.

The roots go back decades and we are reaping today what leaders sowed many years ago.

Roger Yohem VP of SAHBA summed it up pretty well. Read the full article HERE:

Anti-business genesis

From a development perspective, a complex maze of reluctant leaders, ingrained employees and citizen resistance are the roots of the anti-business policies coming out of Tucson City Hall.

City leaders “have to direct staff to develop standards and the process for encouraging development,” said a builder. Instead, the “entrenched bureaucracy” won’t allow progress to happen.

“Staffers have their own personal agenda, which I believe, is no growth,” he added. “The result is anarchy.”

A former member of the City Council spoke of the process. If an assignment conflicted with a staff member’s agenda, it was stonewalled. The official confronted employees and a typical response was: “I’ve been here almost 20 years, you’ll be gone in four and I’ll still be here.”
There is no pressure to perform. And many employees are protected by a union.
“They can’t be fired, so many feel bullet-proof. They don’t have to answer to anybody,” said a director of SAHBA.

The city’s anti-business movement “got legs” during the terms of Democratic mayors Tom Volgy (1987-91) and George Miller (1991-99). Both had won council seats in 1977.

“As no-growthers, they started to empower extremists and staff to follow their lead,” the SAHBA director said. “The people they hired decades ago are killing today’s redevelopment efforts. Many have moved up into policy-making positions with their negative attitudes toward progress.”

Regarding the conflicts of business versus neighborhoods, Volgy once said, “It’s hard for business groups to understand what the neighborhoods want, and vice versa. It’s very hard to put themselves in each other’s shoes.”

Yet Volgy’s “Kumbaya” thesis never developed into a serious collaboration. The narrow-minded NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything), and NOTE (Not Over There Either) protesters trumped progress.

As the city’s finance director told the council this spring, income from sales taxes will be flat in 2008 for the first time in 30 years because, “There’s no growth.”

No political cover

City leaders lack the political grit to confront the no-growth crusaders. Proposed projects fade away despite the widespread benefits.

“A radical minority dictates city policy,” says a SAHBA director. “There’s a handful of people who claim to represent neighborhoods but they really don’t. It’s always the same two or three people, who have become the city’s de facto planning department.”

One way to restore balance is to give politicians political cover. Development dissenters should get 60 days to prove their claims about traffic, property values, and other concerns.

“Make neighborhoods do what developers are required to do. Pass a mandate that they prepare and pay for their own study,” he said.