Pelath: Teacher Performance Grants only helping rich school corporations get richer

Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City today issued the following statement upon the release of the 2016 Teacher Performance Grant awards:

“An undeniable chasm has opened up between the haves and have-nots in our educational system in the state of Indiana.

“This proposal was hatched in one of the Legislature’s fevered dreams about rewarding the unsung heroes of our schools: our teachers. After years of blaming teachers for the ills of a system that has been financially hamstrung by Republican lawmakers and governors, those same people tried to make us believe that they cared about teachers and making the profession of teaching something appealing as a career.

“Instead, we get a performance system that does nothing to incentivize great teaching. What it does do is channel even more money to those school corporations that already get the largest slices of the financial pie.

“The verdict is in. The system’s purpose is not to reward hard work in tough settings. It is to throw money at friends while punishing imagined enemies.

“Who are getting the largest amounts of assistance? ‘Poverty-stricken’ areas like Carmel, Zionsville, and Hamilton Southeastern. God love them, but those are the lands of championship football, new pools, and parents with Master’s degrees.

“Who gets little or nothing? Indianapolis Public Schools gets about $128 per teacher. East Chicago, which has seen its share of hard times this year? Nothing. Anderson Public Schools? Nothing. Michigan City Area Schools? Nothing.

“Kokomo gets nearly $40 per teacher. Forty bucks. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so insulting.

“Some might argue about the effectiveness of a plan that seems to believe that the only incentive that encourages a person to become a better teacher is more money.

“I would argue that a plan that ties awards to teacher evaluations and gives equal weight to the results of a universally-derided ISTEP test is a sham designed only to help those who already have been given great advantages in a system designed to put them ahead.

“What, if anything, about this system would encourage someone to want to teach in those areas of the state that desperately need great teachers the most?”