Components of Incentives

Rewards

Monetary incentives are key to improving schools. Schools that perform positively will have the means to make their schools even better, while failing schools will have a financial stake in improvement. Schools will have the choice of offering bonuses to attract better teachers and encouraging exceptional veteran teachers to sign on for additional school year(s).

Suggested monetary rewards for this system could be in the range of:

• $100 per pupil for overall ratings of “A” or “B.” For example, an elementary school with 300 students could earn $30,000.
• $100 per pupil for an improvement rating of “A” or “B.” For example, a high school with 1,000 students could earn $100,000.

Rewards spent on non-recurring items

Monetary incentives should be designed to allow schools to improve their educational offerings, including such items as new computers and technology, teacher bonuses and foreign language software. By making these non-recurring, the school only gets the money to spend if they make the grade, thus avoiding any budget cuts.

Local distribution of rewards

Once the incentive is earned, a committee including the principal, a designated teacher representative and a parent, should be allowed to distribute the monetary incentives within its own school(s). Local people involved with that school administrator are in the best position to identify current needs and make the proper decisions on where the rewards should be targeted to strengthen areas of need.