In a recent unanimous vote, the Gateway School Board approved a performance based pay system for principals and vice principals. The scheme will offer small automatic annual raises if the employee’s performance is deemed satisfactory with bonuses to be paid to those whose performance is exceeds their individual and statewide goals for student achievement.
How refreshing to see a school board act in such a manner, i.e., basing pay on performance. Almost sounds novel in the context of a Pennsylvania public school, though the concept does exist in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Paying people based on well they do their jobs and contribute to the organization is, or should be, a hallmark of good management. But as we have learned, in the world wherein unions are in the ascendancy, that is very rarely the case. Unions foster mediocrity by disallowing any meaning differentials in compensation on the basis of merit or performance. Even getting rid of inadequate teachers is near impossible in a unionized environment.
Unfortunately and somewhat surprisingly, the principals and vice principals must approve the contract. It is not clear if they are in a union or it is merely a formality. If they are unionized it would seem to violate the notion that management employees can be unionized. If not, it would appear each employee would sign or not sign a contract. If principals are union members, the goal of ever dealing with public school expenditures and achieving effective management finding would be even more difficult than previously thought.
