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Pachyderms Host Columbia Board of Education Candidates

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Janese Heavin, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Mar. 18--All five candidates seeking spots on the Columbia Board of Education agreed yesterday that merit pay for teachers is a good idea in theory but that reality might make it difficult to implement.

Candidate Michael Tan said he would entertain the idea of rewarding teachers with merit pay. Other candidates agreed but noted that students are the wild card in the equation.

Former Hickman teacher Michelle Gadbois said teachers have told her, "If you pay on merit, let me pick my students."

"I would love to be able to provide merit pay to our teachers," Steve Calloway said, "but we need to make sure we do it right."

Candidates were responding to a question posed by Yancy Williams at a forum hosted by the Columbia Pachyderm Club at Jack's Gourmet Restaurant.

In business settings, employees who work harder are rewarded with higher pay, Williams noted.

But judging teachers might be more difficult, incumbent candidate Elton Fay said. Merit pay pits teachers who bring underachieving students up to grade level against teachers whose students already perform as expected, he noted.

Instead of using merit pay, the district could consider financial incentives for teachers who work in the "lowest-achieving" schools, Fay said.

Arch Brooks expressed no confidence that the school district could fairly establish a merit pay system.

"This administration has no binding arbitration," he said. "They tell you what they're going to do and they do it. If you can't be fair with employees, how are you going to be fair with the teachers?"

Gadbois said that if the district could find a way to fairly evaluate teachers, she would support the concept.

Candidates also tackled a question about spending the school district's reserve funds while facing level revenue from the state.

"Will we have to go to voters, or will the state fully fund the program, or will we have to go to our community to raise funds?" Gadbois said.

Before cutting programs or asking voters for a tax increase, she said, district officials should talk with school principals, teachers and taxpayers.

Brooks challenged the notion that the school district faces a budget crisis.

"When you squander funds sponsoring a lawsuit that isn't going to benefit our children, I don't see how you can go to our taxpayers and ask for more funds," Brooks said in reference to a lawsuit challenging the state's education funding formula.

Calloway and Tan said they would cautiously look at making cuts.

The district could seek grants to help fund programs now supported by operating funds, Tan said.

The district should be accountable, Calloway said.

"But the No. 1 priority to me is: We have to do what's best for kids," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

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Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

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