Letter: Teachers deserve ‘incentive pay’ just to start
(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Bryce Dunford, president of Jordan's board of education, announces an agreement to raise teacher salaries during a news conference at Elk Ridge Middle School in South Jordan, Wednesday May 29, 2019.
In a state such as Utah, with a long history of lowest per-pupil funding in the nation, the arrogance of the Jordan School District Board to stand “behind incentive pay” is outrageous. I hope that the incoming Superintendent Anthony Godfrey can correct this insane confusion.
There needs to be across-the-board “incentive pay” to encourage people to take on the overworked role of classroom teacher, a profession that does not currently justify the college tuition investment necessary for the degree to show up and handle the everyday challenges of being a teacher in Utah.
I dare legislators to take the place of one teacher they see as doing the “minimum” for even one afternoon. Asking teachers to go “above and beyond” when test scores show that the teachers in this state perform wonders with less than any other teachers in the nation is the height of wrongdoing.
Pamela Holman, Salt Lake City
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