Merit vs. money

Re “Mr. Shanker’s lesson,” Opinion, Oct. 21

We, as taxpayers, teachers, students and parents, need to be wary of any merit program based on monetary incentives. If experience is any indicator, the money for merit pay will probably come out of school district coffers. Any money given at all by the federal government will likely be far less than necessary to cover the expenses. Think back. Have the districts in our state been fully reimbursed for the special education laws enacted in the 1970s? Any added expense will force districts to chip away at their current resources. Then we teachers will look back fondly on the days when we only had 36 students in our classes.

Carol Tensen

Burbank