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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If there was really a teacher shortage, teachers should trade tenure protections for higher pay. No district is going to needlessly fire a good teacher if there's a shortage, and Republicans would probably get behind it, particularly if it included a [b]pay-for-performance[/b] element.[/quote]

How would that work? Extra hours? Stipends for extra duties? How would performance be measured for pay?[/quote]

The main things that come to mind are standardized tests and principal/peer evaluations. [/quote]

Only a few subjects have standardized tests.  Using standardized tests would punish teachers working in lower achieving schools.  Principal and peer evaluations are too subjective and personal.  It it also a huge amount of work for those staff.[/quote]

You do realize almost every other job has similar challenges, right?  Pay raises are almost always primarily determined by subjective performance evaluations by your supervisors and sometimes peers.[/quote]

Most people get pay raises by changing jobs, companies don't have much incentive to give raises unless they have to.  Teachers can't easily change school districs to get pay raises without losing some part of their tenure, salary scale or even pension.[/quote]

Of course companies give raises to employees they want to retain.  Yes, big raises are hard to come by after your first couple years, unless you get promoted into a different position. But they absolutely give raises.

I've never understood why people like pensions. Your post just illustrated a problem- that you can get stuck in a job. Teachers should drop pensions for a 401k with a generous match.[/quote]

Fairfax County and the state of Virginia haven’t had pensions for new hires since at least 2004. I was hired in 2004, and I got a 403 b. The match was not generous ( I think 3%?) , and didn’t vest until 5 years. By comparison, my husband gets a 6% match. It’s hilarious that you think we have that kind of power. [/quote]

The problem that you have is that the older teachers are happy to sacrifice the younger/future teachers [b]in negotiations.[/b]  That's a common theme with unions.[/quote]

In Virginia? In Fairfax? No. There is no bargaining by public employees such as teachers in VA.[/quote]

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