The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers turned down a 20.5 million dollar program from the Federal Government. The program was supposed to give incentives to both the teachers and the school system to outperform their current educational trends.
The Teachers were not interested because they claim that the program cannot be run fairly, that they have no control over the makeup of their student body, likewise, they say the rating will be to subjective. Who knows, perhaps their right, but could it hurt to try?
Every time the contract is up, there are innevitably complaints about the salaries of teachers, so from a monetary standpoint, this policy would hurt nobody, at least not directly. Think about it like extra credit, and teachers should understand that, if you get it, it helps you, if not, your situation will not change.
And, to complain that the system is unfair seems to be a faulty argumant, not because it is untrue, but what do teachers say to students when they complain about things being fair... life is not fair. Teachers need to practice what they preach regardless of the situation they are in. People do not expect the teachers in Philadelphia to train their students to work at NASA, but they need to pass critical tests, and thus teachers need to do their job, extra money or not, so it cannot hurt them.
One could argue that the schools could use the money in better ways, and that may be, but if the Federal Government has 20.5 million dollars ear-marked in this fashion, it would be silly not to take it, because by turning down this money, do you hurt yourself in the future? If Congress acts in the policy of Don Corleone, they will not offer again now that they have been refused this offer.
If that is the case, then this could have been a terrible decision, but time will tell... your thoughts?