Finally, an Obama Idea I Can Support

There's little to like about the Obama agenda, but his thoughts on teacher merit pay I like:

President Barack Obama remains in exceptionally strong standing with his own party, and as if to prove it, he gave an unvarnished education speech Tuesday with some tough talk aimed at failing teachers — and the teachers unions held their fire.

Obama proposed spending additional money on effective teachers in up to 150 additional school districts, fulfilling a campaign promise that once earned him boos from members of the National Education Association.

“Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools,” the president said in a wide-ranging education speech before a meeting of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

The response from the teachers unions to Obama’s embrace of merit pay was cautious.

“I think people are putting words in his mouth and jumping to conclusions about what he supports,” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said in an interview, noting that the president didn’t use the phrases “merit pay” or “performance pay.”

On its website, the NEA says: “Merit pay schemes are a weak answer to the national teacher compensation crisis.”

The last thing in the world the teacher's unions want is a merit pay scheme that would actually reward teachers for their student's academic performance. Why the objection? Because unions don't like the idea of any member being singled out for performance. They want equality of pay for their members, regardless of their skills in the classroom. Unions are about protecting jobs, not improving performance.

Once you designate certain members as winners, you also have to start noticing that some members are doing poorly. What then do you do about them?

I doubt that Obama will ever get the merit pay plan he's talking about. The teacher's unions will grab him and the Dem party where it hurts and he'll back off.