House Education Committee advances bill allowing merit-based pay for public school teachers

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The House Education Committee advanced legislation Tuesday that would allow local school districts the ability to implement a merit-based pay system for teachers.

The bill, brought by Speaker Pro Tempore Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville, would allow local school boards to introduce a merit-based pay structure to award additional compensation to high-performing educators. Under the legislation, this reward could come in the form of a one-time bonus, or an increase in salary. The bill doesn’t define what the standards for high performance are; that would be left to individual school districts. The pay structure could not be used to decrease a teacher’s compensation.

Marsh told fellow committee members the change will motivate teachers to innovate in the classroom and help to improve student outcomes.

State Representative Pat Marsh (Photo by the Tennessee General Assembly)

“This bill will allow school boards to incentivize educators to meet and exceed expectations and school boards to reward educators for their extraordinary work,” Marsh said.

Several representatives expressed concerns about the bill. Representative Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, says if an educator isn’t meeting performance standards, administrators should take action to intervene and help them to improve. He worries merit-based pay policies could lead favoritism or qualified educators being intentionally left out.

“When I hear merit, I’m thinking that we’re going to choose between one person and another. What I mean by that, it’s been used against certain people over the years,” said Hakeem. “You’ll have certain individuals who can pick and choose who we want to have that increase.  Some people who are capable and do the work, don’t necessarily get that raise.”

Marsh responded by saying local school boards would be able to decide on their own policies regarding any merit pay program, including the option of not implementing a merit-based structure at all. But he says they should have the choice to do so if they want to.

“They don’t have to do it at all. But if they have some great teachers that deserve to be moved up and make more money, they can do that. Now they cannot,” replied Marsh.

Retired teacher Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, called merit-based pay structures a gimmick. She has concerns about it pitting teachers and schools against each other, saying such a pay structure would make educators less likely to share ideas and collaborate with their colleagues because of the limited pool of money. She said teachers in well-funded, well-supported schools were more likely to receive performance-based pay incentives simply because students in those schools were more likely to do well. Because of that, she thinks it would become more difficult for schools with lower funding and lower test scores to recruit teachers.

“It’s our underfunded, under resourced communities that are going to struggle, and good teachers aren’t going to want to go there because they’re not going to be as apt to get this merit pay,” Johnson said.

Johnson went on to point out that Tennessee ranks in the bottom five states in the nation for teacher pay, and said all educators should be given a raise, not just a few. She also told committee members that teacher evaluations can vary wildly from year to year, with little to no explanation as to why.

 “So, creating this, pitting teachers against each other, and using scores that really don’t represent what they are able to do, teachers are not asking for this,” said Johnson.

Marsh told Johnson he understands her concerns and could see where problems might potentially arise, but said giving local school boards the option for merit-based teacher pay makes sense.

 “I think that there’s a way that school boards can maybe get around that and do it fairly. But I do think if we have really good teachers, there should be some kind of way that they really are rewarded,” he said.

The measure passed in a 14 to 2 vote, with Representatives Hakeem and Johnson voting against it. It now moves on to the House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee.

The Senate passed its version of the legislation on Monday.