Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon voters will decide a ballot measure this fall, aimed at tying teacher pay to classroom performance.

Currently, teacher contracts in Oregon base compensation on how long teachers have been working, and how much education they have.

The system proposed by initiative sponsor, Bill Sizemore, isn’t clear exactly how ‘classroom performance’ would be measured.

Teachers’ unions have already indicated they’ll campaign against the measure.

Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susan Castillo, says she doesn’t see an initiative as the right way to address teacher pay.

Susan Castillo: “If we’re going to have a conversation about this, all parties have to be there, and we work on this together. Not having someone bring in a ballot measure that hasn’t brought the parties together, and try to force something on a work force that doesn’t appreciate that approach. I just don’t see how that’s a helpful solution.”

Castillo said there are some efforts to work on teacher compensation involving administrators and teachers. She used Denver, Colorado, as an example. 

Similar collaborative efforts are underway in three Oregon districts. They shy away from tying teacher pay directly to student achievement.