Imagine if we gave students grades, the same way we paid teachers. In Kindergarten, all kids would get an F. By the first grade, the entire class would all get a D minus. Fifth graders would all get a C, and so on, until in the twelfth grade, every student would have an A plus!

 

It seems silly – but that’s exactly how we pay teachers: by number of years in the system, not by value.

 

Some teachers feel safe with that kind of job security – survive for two years, and you’ve got tenure. But not me. I’m a good teacher, but when it comes to my pay, I’m getting an F!

 

Bad teachers deserve to be paid less, but good teachers deserve to be paid more. Imagine a new teacher who was really great. Perhaps she made learning fun – kids were dying to come to school! Maybe she helped to bring student’s scores up two or three grade levels. Maybe she taught the kids to think for themselves; to think creatively. Teachers like that deserve to be paid double, or even more! Perhaps a teacher like that could make $100,000. Unfortunately, in our current system, a teacher like that is paid the lowest amount a teacher can make.

 

My name is Joe Kent, and I’m running for Congress, because I believe our educational system is broken. As a teacher for seven years, I’ve seen the monster of government invading the classroom. Government ties teachers’ hands behind their backs. It traps principals at every turn. And it allows bullies to harass good kids in the classroom.

 

I want to get rid of all the bureaucracy in education. Stop boring teachers and students with all these new regulations, and just give teachers the freedom to teach. Get government out of the classroom. Give principals the power and freedom to adjust pay, and you would see a new market for excellence in education. Teachers would strive hard to please principals. Principals would demand only the best teachers in the schools. And parents would be banging the principal’s door down, to get their kids in that school. And our keiki would benefit with an outstanding classroom, and a brighter future.

 

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