Republican Spence proposes to reward best and brightest teachers

A groundbreaking effort to create pay incentives for Colorado schoolteachers who make a real difference in class will get its first hearing in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 141 will help all of the state’s 178 school districts as well as independent charter schools develop their own performance-pay plans, much like programs already in place in Denver and Douglas County schools.

"Exceptional teachers deserve exceptional pay," Spence said. "There is no more effective way to cultivate and foster good teachers on a consistent basis than by recognizing their work through their pay."

Spence, the ranking Republican on the Education Committee and a veteran advocate of education reform, said she is modeling her bill on Florida’s recently enacted STAR program. As in that program, Colorado’s will assure flexibility to local districts to come up with plans that work well for them, she said.

"A couple of our larger school districts already have implemented plans that provide incentives for teachers," she said. "We are creating funding for other districts to follow suit."

The proposal sets basic standards for performance-incentive programs devised by districts but allows the districts free rein to work out the details. Spence’s bill allocates $10 million from the State Education Fund to the new Teacher Performance Incentive Grant Fund, which will be administered by the Colorado Department of Education.

"This is exactly the kind of thing the State Education Fund is intended for," Spence said. "Voters who approved Amendment 23, which created that fund, were voting for progress in our schools."

Research supports the major policy shift Spence proposes, according to Ben DeGrow, an education policy analyst with the Golden-based Independence Institute.

"The latest research we have strongly suggests such programs benefit how students perform in the classroom," DeGrow said.