#TXLEGE: Nelson's teacher pay proposal **MIGHT** be a good start

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

We've seen conflicting chatter about the teacher pay bill introduced yesterday in the Senate.  So we decided to so something crazy.  We read the bill:

SB 3 -- Nelson teacher pay ... by on Scribd

Thoughts:

• Nelson's bill doesn't do anything obviously bad.  It's a simple, straightforward, state level expenditure for a specific purpose.  None of the shenanigans the educrat lobby sometimes likes to play.
• Note: So far.

• Any state expenditures authorized under this bill will, by definition, go into the classroom.

• State provides a long term funding mechanism.

• That being said, it's certainly not cheap.  It's very valid to fear Nelson's proposal will be expensive and ineffective.  Across the board raises don't incentivize good performance.

• Section 1 (c) of the bill specifically leaves room for a merit pay program along the lines of what the Governor has proposed.  That's probably coming soon.  Still, we'd rather see the money that's going for this proposal going to that one.

• One the other hand (ie. counting votes in the Senate), if an across the board teacher raise is what takes to pass a merit pay system, that might not be the worst trade.

• Like it or not, this proposal is a reflection of the current political reality.

Bottom Line: Obviously, all the standard disclaimers about it being early and the devil being in the details still apply, but this isn't the worst proposal we've ever seen come out of the legislature.