Goldwater Institute Develops Plan to Pay Top Teachers $100k +

Rock Star Pay for Rock Star Teachers: How Teachers Can Earn Six Figures



Phoenix--We hear it over and over: teaching is one of the most important professions in the country. So why is it hard to attract the top college graduates to the classroom? The answer is simple: schools treat teachers like factory workers rather than professionals.


"We simply cannot draw more people into teaching without addressing the elephant in the room," says Matthew Ladner, Ph.D., vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute. "Teaching, as currently practiced, is an unattractive career to many people because it does not reward merit."


A report released today, "New Millennium Schools: Delivering Six-Figure Teacher Salaries in Return for Outstanding Student Learning Gains," shows how the system can be improved to give rock star teachers rock star pay without requiring more money from taxpayers.
Top teachers can be identified using value-added assessments, a method of evaluating teacher effectiveness by measuring what their students learn throughout the year. Once highly-performing teachers are identified, just compensation can begin.


Dr. Ladner and his co-authors, Dr. Gregory Stone and Dr. Mark Francis, propose a system of merit bonuses for teachers based on student gains in the classroom and for meeting school-wide goals set by administrators.


The report also outlines a way to further compensate the best of the best, called "master teachers." Once identified, master teachers would be given more students to teach. That means bigger classroom sizes. Since research demonstrates that teacher quality trumps the impact of class size, a master teacher could effectively take on more students and still have better results than other teachers.


The report proposes giving master teachers a bonus for each additional student they add to their classroom. The bonus would amount to two-thirds of the per-pupil funding that the school receives. Under this formula, for example, a master teacher in Arizona who taught 32 students instead of 20 could make $102,000. With the potential to make a six-figure salary, competition for teaching positions would increase greatly.



For evidence that this approach to teacher recruitment and compensation works, we can look to South Korea. In South Korea teaching is a highly esteemed, highly compensated profession. Teachers are recruited from the top 5 percent of college graduates. Even with an average class size of almost 50, South Korean students score much better on math and science exams than American students. Some observers dismiss the disparity as the result of cultural differences. Maybe. But as one South Korean policymaker noted, "The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers."


Read "New Millennium Schools" online, or to have a copy mailed to you, call (602) 462-5000.

Tom Jenny Backs GOP Legislators Refusal to Hike Taxes

Tom Jenny, the director of the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), today applauded the announcement of a plan by Republican leaders of the Arizona Legislature to cover the state's $3.3 billion FY 2010 deficit without raising taxes. Senate President Bob Burns (R-Peoria) and House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-Mesa) outlined the plan yesterday at a meeting of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC).

Burns and Adams suggested $840 million in new spending reductions, $500 million in continuing reductions from FY 2009, $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funding, $390 million in fund transfers from non-general fund balances, and non-tax revenue of $300 million. The plan may involve some short-term borrowing.

Jenny said "We're not enthused about the debt financing elements, but it's better than raising taxes during a recession."

The Burns-Adams plan stands in contrast to Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to raise taxes by a billion dollars a year for three years, which would amount to over $300 per Arizona household per year according to AFP AZ..

Recently released economic projections by the Goldwater Institute and the Beacon Hill Institute suggest that a billion-dollar sales tax increase would cost Arizona 14,400 private-sector jobs and a billion-dollar income tax increase would cost 26,000.

AFP AZ announced that Senate President Burns and Speaker Adams are welcomed to speak at the Taxpayer Tea party at the Capitol on April 15. "We welcome participation by all public officials who have not proposed a tax increase this year," Jenny said. Congressman John Shadegg and a number of state legislators are scheduled to speak at the event, which begins at 5:30 PM on the Senate Lawn. Over 2,000 have registered online for the event.

Tax Hike Could Cost AZ 14,400 Jobs

The Goldwater Institute today said that a new economic model shows a tax hike could cause 14,400 lost jobs as Arizona's economic output would fall by $1.2 Billion.

To close the state's budget deficit Governor Jan Brewer has proposed a $1 billion tax increase. New findings announced today show that if the State of Arizona were to implement a $1 billion sales tax increase, 14,400 private jobs would be lost.

These new findings are the result of economic modeling conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. The Goldwater Institute (GI) asked Beacon Hill to examine the impact of a $1 billion sales tax increase on employment, state economic output, and incomes.

Beacon Hill found that a $1 billion sales tax increase would cause the state to lose 14,400 private sector jobs; the state's real economic output would decline by $1.2 billion; and Arizonans would see their total after-tax income, already hit hard by recession, fall by $760 million, or almost $300 per household on average.

In addition to the $1 billion tax increase proposed by the governor, Arizona property owners face a tax increase in July when the state equalization tax comes back on the books. Lawmakers and the governor could decide to permanently repeal this tax. In the event that lawmakers choose not to repeal it, and even if it becomes the only tax increase to go into effect this year, almost 4,000 private jobs and $385 million in after-tax income will be lost.

"The Beacon Hill Institute has an excellent reputation for modeling the real effects of tax changes," said economist Dr. Byron Schlomach, Director of the Goldwater Institute's Center for Economic Prosperity. "These numbers show that these tax increases will hurt our economic recovery by putting more Arizonans out of work."

In a December 18, 2008 policy brief, http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=2460 , "A Fresh Start for Arizona: Proposals for Closing a Billion-Dollar Budget Gap," the Goldwater Institute says that tax increases are not an option and should not be on the table for discussion.

In just the last five years, Arizona General Fund spending increased 66 percent, while population and inflation grew at just 33 percent. The Goldwater Institute policy brief claims that in many cases returning agency budgets to fiscal year (FY) 2006 levels would do much to put Arizona on a more secure financial footing.

Some of the cuts suggested by the Goldwater Institute include; elimination of the Office of Tourism for a $10 million saving, elimination of the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources for $500,000 in savings, abolish the Board of Medical Students Loans to save $400,000.

Essential governmental services, such as courts and public safety, also didn't escape the Goldwater Institute's suggested cuts. The policy brief included a $5 Million cut to the Arizona Supreme Court and a 10% cut to the Department of Public Safety to save $6.3 Million and a 10% cut to the Department of Corrections to save $95 Million.