And are we crazy enough to think that principal evaluations should be the only other factor in this decision? Can we not be honest here and admit that we have all seen favoritism in our schools? We have watched teachers who have a close relationship with their principals be rewarded in a variety of different ways. Now we want to add merit pay to that? Really? Talk about dividing a staff! And that is one of the biggest problems with merit pay. To think it will not cause divisiveness and polarize teachers is ludicrous! Schools operate best in a spirit of collaboration and camaraderie. It is ridiculous to think that this will be the rule of thumb in a merit pay system.

I believe that merit pay is a terrible idea, but if it is an idea that we will have to swallow, as we have had to with so many other bad ideas, like NCLB, then let’s at least find better ways to evaluate teachers than student test results or the evaluation of principals who, like all of us, are fallible.

Come on Columbus! What you do will likely set the tone for all of us in Ohio eventually. Please rethink this merit pay issue before you commit to something that could have such huge ramifications.