Gov. Branstad urged to overhaul  teacher pay, reward performance 

The system for paying teachers needs to be overhauled to reward and encourage high performance in the classroom, Gov. Terry Branstad was told Wednesday.

?In our world, we pay for performance,? said Suku Radia, CEO and president of Bankers Trust. ?We have to start with making teaching a more respected and better-paid profession. We are going to have to invest a lot more in the teaching profession.?

Clayton Jones, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Collins, told Branstad his company?s pay and incentive programs are designed to attract the best and the brightest, and schools need to take the same approach.

?Are the incentives in place so people want to come to teaching?? said Jones. ?Then you are going to have to pay for it.?

A panel of top business leaders pushed for the higher teacher pay during a roundtable Branstad held to pave the way for an education summit meeting he plans later this month that includes Education Secretary Arne Duncan and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

After the roundtable, Branstad said he?s open to the idea of bolstering teacher pay, noting he pushed a teacher pay package during his initial tenure as governor. That package set a minimum salary for new teachers, and based pay increases in part of performance. That?s the message the governor said he took from the session with business leaders.

?The business people clearly said there needs to be an opportunity for people to be rewarded for doing an outstanding job,? Branstad told reporters after the session. ?There are some things that can be done and we certainly want to look at that and see how we can change our whole system.?

Mary O?Keefe, senior vice president of the Principal Financial Group, said changes are needed in the education system, and needed badly because businesses are seeing a decline in the quality of job applicants.

?We are seeing weaker written communication skills,? said O?Keefe. ?We have seen some reductions in math skills.?

John Bloomhall, CEO of Diamond V Mills, said schools need to modernize their entire management system to attract and retain top teachers.

?When you look at how we manage education in the classroom, it?s very old-fashioned,? Bloomhall said.

Paul Schickler, president of Pioneer Hi-Bred, urged Branstad to expand early education programs, and focus heavily on math and science.

?It?s something you can?t start late in your career,? said Schickler. ?High school is too late.?

Jones sought to bolster that point, arguing the state clearly needs to do more in early childhood education and in math and science.

?That?s one area the state has to try a little hard on,? said Jones. ?Science and math is our life blood.?

Jones said his company partners with the public colleges to get advanced degrees for workers, as well as focusing on early childhood programs.

?We have one of the largest kindergarten preschool programs in the state,? said Jones.

Branstad said he called the education summit because the state has slipped in national ranking of student achievement. He said that decline could give momentum to proposals for bolstering schools.

?I think there?s more support and growing interest,? Branstad told reporters. ?Other states have surpassed us and we want to get back to a leadership position again.?

?We have slipped and this is a good wake-up call,? said Radia.

Branstad plans similar roundtable discussions with teacher and education group leader before his education summit later this month.

Branstad initially said he would call a special session of the legislature to implement recommendation coming from the summit, but he changed his mind after this year?s legislature stayed in session until the end of June. He now says he?ll have recommendations for the next legislature convening in January, but says he isn?t ready to make those recommendations yet. 

?I think it?s too early to draw any conclusions at this point,? the governor said. ?We?re trying to find the best ideas.?