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If they ever get to vote, city teachers would approve merit pay even if their union opposes it, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
“Will the teachers union stand in the way of their most effective members being rewarded for all of their work?” Bloomberg asked during his speech before the US Conference of Mayors in Washington.
“I think this is an idea whose time has come — and I’m confident that if the teachers are allowed to decide the matter for themselves, they’ll support it in New York City just the way they did here in Washington, DC.”
Merit-pay advocates cite the program begun in Washington in 2010 with $65 million in private funds as a model. Teachers rated “highly effective” are eligible for annual bonuses of $2,400 to $25,000 a year, plus permanent pay hikes after two years of top ratings. Last year, 476 of Washington’s 3,600 teachers qualified for the extra pay.
Bloomberg has a similar offer on the table for teachers here: Anyone in the top tier for two consecutive years would get a salary increase of $20,000.
“The harder we work, and the better job we do, I think most people would say the better you should be rewarded,” argued Bloomberg, who received a loud round of applause after his 30-minute address.
But Mike Mulgrew, president of the city’s United Federation of Teachers, held firm to his position that merit pay doesn’t work.
Under its contract with the city, merit pay is subject to bargaining with the UFT.
“This is an idea that sounds really good to people outside of education,” Mulgrew said.
He said studies have shown that incentive pay induces teachers to try to get the best students in their classes and to work harder with those students, leaving others by the wayside.
Asked if he’d take up the mayor’s challenge and allow his members to vote on merit pay, Mulgrew responded, “Maybe he should have let us vote on Cathie Black,” a stinging reference to the here-today, gone-tomorrow schools chancellor appointed by the mayor a year ago.
Earlier yesterday on his radio show, Bloomberg was conciliatory toward the UFT.
“You can rest assured everyone is still talking,” he said, referring to negotiations over a teacher-evaluation formula. “Both sides have a lot in common and in some areas more in common than they disagree on.”
One thing they apparently disagree on is whether talks are actually continuing.
“My phone has not rung,” said Mulgrew.
Meanwhile, late yesterday, state Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr., and New York State United Teachers president Richard Iannuzzi announced negotiations over teacher evaluations are “making significant progress and continue in earnest towards settlement.”