Gov. Sam Brownback seems to think paying teachers based on the merit of each student’s performance will fix what is wrong with education. I would like to share an idea with our state’s governor based on my own experience of working in our educational system.

I was wondering if he would also be creating a required taxation system with a varied payment schedule? This system would charge parents/guardians based on their children’s academic success. A system could be created that would have increased payments due to the state at the end of each semester or end of school year based on the assessment and progress reports of each child. The payment gets larger as the grades slide lower.

If teachers are going to be held accountable, then parents/guardians should also be held accountable for their children’s success.  Every school day we see more and more students show up to school who have not completed homework, they have not prepared for exams, they are tired, they have not had breakfast, they are late and missed the breakfast that is offered at school, they are more concerned about extra curricular activities than academics, they are uninterested in learning, etc.

Why are teachers the only ones being held accountable for what and how a child performs in the classroom? If we have become a society that truly believes a teacher is solely responsible for a student’s success, we should step back and take another look at this situation.  

If teachers are going to be paid at levels solely based on student success, we need to consider what financial source does our state have to make these varied payments to the teachers. Gov. Brownback could create a system that also gives responsibility and expectations back to the home front. The income from this special taxation system could then be earmarked to pay the increased wages for each district staff that has proven their worth through their students’ grades. This would be a fantastic way to support this proposal our state governor seriously seems to think will work.

I know in my own household, my tax payments on such a system would have been taken very seriously and still we would have had some high and some low tax payments to make after each term. Even when we made grades, homework and classroom expectations a priority each night, we did not always see the results we were hoping to see on every progress report.  The difference is, we took our share of responsibility as parents and we also gave a level of responsibility to teachers along the way. However, we placed the majority of academic responsibilities on our own children. They in turn had to live with the rewards and consequences they received throughout their educational careers.  

Merit pay for teachers is incredibly ridiculous and so is creating a plan like I have suggested. A child is a small human that can be supported and encouraged by parents, teachers and the many other adults who influence their lives. They can be guided, advised, taught and supported by so many people during their public school career. They can do well, they can do poorly, or they can perform in a mediocre style.

My point to all of this is one classroom teacher should never be considered the sole responsible source of a student’s classroom success or failure, thus their personal income should not be required to reflect a class’ success or failure. There are far too many other variables in the life of a child to hold one adult responsible.

— Kristie Mullenix was raised in a family of educators and has held various jobs in the Lawrence School District. She currently is a math support instructor and assistant drama director in the district and works part-time for the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club.