Three years ago, Tennessee stunned the nation when it became one of the first two states to be awarded federal “Race to the Top” education reform grants. President Barack Obama, who made Race to the Top one of his top domestic priorities, and then-Gov. Phil Bredesen, who called a special legislative session to enact the reforms necessary to compete, made Tennessee’s win possible.
Obama and Bredesen were on the leading edge of what has become a nationwide cadre of Democrats willing to challenge the education establishment to enact the types of policies necessary to provide every child the opportunity to learn to his or her utmost potential. As Tennessee embarks on new reforms that build on their work, it’s important to stress that even though they are now being championed by Republicans, they nonetheless draw on the efforts of prominent, mainstream Democrats. This is as it should be. There is no effort more worthy of bipartisan support than the reform of public education.
The teacher pay-flex passed by the Tennessee State Board of Education in June is one key example. Under current policy, teacher pay must rigidly follow years of experience and the attainment of advanced education degrees. Neither, however, correlates with student achievement. Under the new policy, school districts are allowed to include other factors in determining teacher pay that prioritize teacher effectiveness and are customized to meet local school and student needs.
One national model for Tennessee’s teacher pay-flex plan is Newark, N.J. Under an agreement finalized in November of last year, teachers can earn up to $12,500 in merit pay — more than a 20 percent increase over the AVERAGE Newark teacher salary of $60,000. That may, for example, attract a great math teacher — as measured by student performance — to a high-need school who might not otherwise consider teaching there as an attractive option.
Cory Booker, the Democratic mayor of Newark, whom New Jersey voters are almost certain to elect to the U.S. Senate in a special election this fall, laid the political groundwork that made the agreement possible. The policy was co-authored by longtime Newark Teachers Union President Joseph DelGrosso and was approved overwhelmingly by his members. Similar plans have been championed by Democrats and supported by local teachers unions in Pittsburgh and in Toledo, Ohio.
Tennessee’s new teacher licensure policies, set for a final vote by the state board Friday, are a second example of state reforms modeled after those recently implemented under the leadership of Democrats in other parts of the country. Under current policy, teacher licenses are granted and renewed automatically, for all intents and purposes. Under the proposed policy, licensure would depend of measures of teacher knowledge, competence and effectiveness.
The new Tennessee teacher policy is very similar to that implemented two years ago in New Haven, Conn. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, a Democrat, spearheaded the effort to tie licensure renewal to teacher effectiveness. The local teachers union approved the policy, and national President Randi Weingarten often cites it as a national model.
We understand there are growing pains in Tennessee around its new teacher policies. Change is never easy. But what we see nationally is that such reforms are being led by Democrats and enacted cooperatively with its traditional teachers union allies in recognition of their potential impact on students. As goes Tennessee on education reform, we hope, so goes the nation.
Charles Barone is policy director for Democrats for Education Reform, based in Washington, D.C.