Top education officials say Kansas teachers don't feel appreciated

Top
education officials say Kansas teachers don't feel appreciated and a merit pay
requirement might make matters worse: A blog by KASB

Top education
officials Wednesday told legislators Kansas teachers don’t feel appreciated and
a merit pay requirement from the state might make matters worse.

Responding to a
question from state Sen. Jeff Melcher, R-Leawood, related to merit pay, Kansas
Education Commissioner Randy Watson said teachers aren’t so much concerned
about money as they are feeling unappreciated.

“They have come to
believe that they are not appreciated in the state of Kansas and that is the
general reaction everywhere I go,” Watson said.

Kansas State Board of
Education Chairman Jim McNiece urged legislators to applaud teachers and
suggested a merit pay requirement from the state could be like pouring gasoline
on a fire.

But Melcher blamed
the education community and teacher’s union for bad feelings between teachers
and legislators.

He said he wanted a
system that rewarded top teachers, but then added teachers make “actually a
pretty darn good living.”

Watson and McNiece
appeared before the committees to brief the members on the State Board's new
vision of focusing on the success of each Kansas student.