School study gets an 'A' for boldness

Daily Breeze 1/3/07

Every month, it seems, another report heralds the promise of American education reform. The constant headlines can make it easy to become skeptical. Yet a new report actually deserves attention for its out-of-the-box ideas that transcend traditional left and right solutions.

The "Tough Choices, Tough Times" study, partly bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been making headlines for its innovative thinking. It has the support of former secretaries of education and respected superintendents.

Calling for an overhaul of the education system to produce higher-achieving, more creative students, the report argues for changes ranging from universal preschool to a new teacher preparation system.

To attract the brightest students and reward the best of teachers, "Tough Choices" calls for investing more money into salaries and making retirement benefits comparable to the private sector's better firms.

Under their proposal, beginning teachers would earn about $45,000 per year, which is now median teachers' pay, up to about $95,000 per year for a teacher at the top of the career ladder, and as much as $110,000 per year for teachers willing to work the same hours as other professionals typically do.

This idea has merit: Such salary increments are needed to reward effective teachers, as well as those working in tough urban areas and in shortage fields such as mathematics.

This report has plenty to question as well. Local control is highly valued in American education. "Tough Choices" calls for schools to be run not by local districts but by independent contractors. The change would give more school choice to parents but could potentially curtail their control, too.

The report's authors concede its reforms face spectacular opposition from special interests. But it is valuable for offering creative new solutions and for generating discussion on how to overhaul a rusty education system.