Michigan Votes Forum

Paying based on merit is a good first step in education reform.  Competition between teachers for jobs and pay, as well as competition between schools for students is the only way to fix the education system.

This is another bald attempt to undermine the collective bargaining system to which public school employees in Michigan have been entitled for more than 40 years.  It is bad legislation that should be rejected.

That's right, freespeaker.  The most important thing in education is to protect the teacher.  The "collective pargaining system" has been in place for decades, and look how good it's been for education!  Who cares about getting a good return of our investment of taxpayer's dollars in education?  As long as the teachers have power and security, that's all that matters.  As we all know, when a monopoly corners the market, the lack of competition and choice for the consumer means that the quality of the product just goes up, up up!

 ......and maybe we should go back to the days where labor unions didn't exist, child labor abounded, and working conditions and hours were abominable?  Teachers do NOT have security as is.  They spend the first 5 or more years worrying whether they will have a job from year to year or month to month at this point.  But hey!  To get the best return on your money you want people to work for less than what they're worth right?  Well that's already happening.  What's bad for schools is that the state underfunds them in the first place and the pay for teachers is already the lowest you can get for a bachelor's degree. And I would hardly consider collective bargaining a monopoly.  School districts offer a variety of salaries and benefits to employees.