What if public school teacher salaries were tax-free for the first $60,000 of income?
I like the idea of using a tax cut to invest in public schools, and I do think that public schools should be able to pay teachers more to attract talent to the jobs. But even if we functionally gave every public school teacher in America a raise, this wouldn't begin to solve a major innovation block: the union.
I want young, educated people who graduate college to think there's a future in teaching, a career that will allow them to advance with their talents and develop professionally and personally. I know we should pay qualified individuals to be teachers. But I only want to pay good teachers. I don't want to give bad teachers a raise, and I don't want to give them tenure and benefits. I want bad teachers to get sent for remediation, some kind of "remedial student-teacher term." If they don't get better, I think they should be fired. Continuing professional education should be a hallmark of the profession of education as much as it is a hallmark of the profession of medicine or law.
I guess what I'm saying is, I want to cut taxes on teachers' salaries in order to give them a very large raise in their take-home pay. But I only want to give it to good teachers.
Is it possible that in exchange for this massive increase in compensation, teachers' unions across the country might introduce more effective termination standards and procedures, and a continuing professional education requirement? If not, why not?
Tell me what you think.
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