Keep teacher pay based on merit, speaker says

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder on Wednesday panned a move by the Senate to strip the state budget of an idea that would more closely tie teachers’ wages to how well they and their students do in the classroom.

The House-passed version of the budget features a plan to overhaul teachers’ evaluations and how they get paid. Teachers’ salaries would be based on their performances and evaluations instead of the current increases based on seniority and level of training.

Batchelder told reporters he was disappointed by the removal of performance-pay provisions.

“My thought is that’s crazy,” the Republican leader said.

It was among several revisions with which Batchelder took issue a day after his fellow GOP senators unveiled their proposed changes to the $55.7 billion, two-year spending blueprint.

Senate President Tom Niehaus has said his chamber wanted to remove the wording to avoid conflict with any union agreements that schools made with teachers as part of federal Race to the Top grants.

The federal program rewards states for taking up ambitious changes to improve struggling schools.

Batchelder said he didn’t see why the school districts that got the federal dollars couldn’t make the additional adjustments to teachers’ evaluations and wages.

“I think if we do both at once, it’s a good thing,” he said. “I think it creates inducements of two types.”

Senate Finance Chairman Chris Widener had said some senators were confused why the merit pay language was in the bill, and it was being further scrutinized.

The topic came up in a Wednesday meeting that Batchelder said he had with Republican Gov. John Kasich and Niehaus, R-New Richmond.

“The governor and I are in agreement, and the Senate feels differently, so we’ll just have to discuss it and work it out,” Batchelder said.

The House leader said he thought it would go back into the bill.

Batchelder praised a Senate initiative that could give high-performing school districts $30 million in state money. Those schools that are rated excellent or higher would get $17 per student through a new reward program.