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Show 4B Lakeside Review South, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 1983 Polls Try to Decide on Incentives for Teachers teachers appiove of an evaluation to increase the quality of education. Here, 81 percent of teachers said they would agree to an evaluation strictly for quality and not for pay determination. But even the type of merit system, if adopted, isnt agreed up- approved of pay increase accordReview Stall ing to seniority. But that means teachers will Incentive. To the gourmet its food. To have to be evaluated. A touchy subject with educators. the poet its love. To the politiDon Ulmer, deputy executive cian its power. director of the Utah Educational For all of us, its money. Association (UEA) , said that Despite what some naive person may have does evaluations of teachers must be done by people who understand make the world go round. We all want to be paid more education. Ulmer also said what and teachers are no different. is to be evaluated should be made clear. Money is the most basic incenA poll completed by Wasatch tive to any professional. for the UEA underlines Opinion But the agreement stops there. Some educators are calling for Ulmers concerns. The poll was an across the board increase in different than the governors poll the pay scale for all teachers in in that only teachers were asked an effort to compete with private the questions. According to the UEA poll, onindustry jobs. The governors ed35 percent of teachers approve ly ucational committee has recoma merit pay system while 63 of hike 25 of mended a general pay percent would oppose it. That percent. But according to recent polls sharply contrasts to the general taken by the governors steering public poll by the governor. Why would teachers oppose committe on educational reform, merit pay so strongly? edmost of the public and many Ulmer said that, in his opinucators want teachers paid what the teachers repulsion to they are worth based on some ion, merit pay is understandable. sort of evaluation. The teachers have concerns In other words, merit pay. Ever since A Nation at Risk , that merit pay will be misused, said Ulmer. the report on America's educaThe evaluation may be based tional crisis, everyone is jumping on how well you get along with into the educational arena with the people doing the evaluation. zeal. The new pasttime is havThe teacher is faced with that own done a of your ing poll from the time he or she is hired. questions to see if they get you If dont make waves, things you somewhere. The governor did it, the will go alright. Another area which Ulmer sees teachers did it and now Kim a potential problem with the as Burningham is doing it. They all are working with pollsters to see merit pay system is a lowering of Bawhat kind of support they have morale among the teachers. are when what sically you doing with their ideas. is pointing A recent poll commissioned by you evaluate teachers wonderful teacher. most the out the governors committee will the percentile upper Only showed that more than 80 percent of Utahns want teachers to be chosen to receive the merit increases so if you are one of be paid on a merit system. In contrast, a mere 29 percent - those teachers that get the merit rating you would keep your tech DAN CARLSRUH on. said,-mone- One of the more popular ideas being passed around the state is what is called the ladder scheme. In the ladder merit system, teachers have to progress through a variety of steps before they can be tenured. To move up a rung on the ladder, an evaluation is necessary. But Ulmer said applying the merit to the ladder term scheme is a misnomer. He said the ladder only defines the role which the teachers must develop in order to move up the ladder. He said the ladder has nothing to do with merit. But the UEA poll shows that 63 percent of teachers would approve of the ladder scheme, a number which surprises Ulmer. One major problem of schools today is the lack of science and math teachers. niques to yourself. It would be the me against the world attitude, said Ulmer. That would affect morale. The poll taken for the governors committee showed that 91 percent of the public feel there should be a mandatory evaluation of the teachers. But how that evaluation should be accomplished, or who should do it was not asked. However, a question on the UEA poll asked teachers that if a merit pay system was used who would they want to be evaluated by. More than 70 percent said teachers evaluate should r, ing. In order to qualify for the nancing, individuals and fi- fami- - $65,000 for a new home. The loan requires a minimum down guidelines. Previous home ownership and the sale price of the payment of 5 percent. home are also factors contributThe general rule for previous home ownership is that borrowing to eligibility. The maximum total income ers cannot have had an ownerallowed under the program is ship interest in their previous $30,000 for a single person; residences for three years preced$31,500 for two; $33,000 for ing the loan closing. That rethree; $34,500 for a family of 4; quirement will be waived, and $500 for each individual however, in certain targeted ar4. household member after eas of the state. Some $28 milThe maximum sales price for lion has been earmarked for the an existing home is $60,000, targeted areas. with a maximum sales price of The exact location of the tar lies must meet certain income - needed. Eighty-si- x percent of those polled in the governors survey and 79 percent of those polled by the UEA favor giving college scholarships to students who are majoring in a critical shortage area such as math or science. The problems of quality teaching and incentives are complicated. So are the remedies. As of now, its all been talk and surveys. But action in the state legislature may be coming. A poll developed by David Howe of the Legislative General Council and Research was given to Rep. Kim Burningham, R Bountiful, to review. The poll is actually similar to the UEA poll and is even being done by the same pollster. It, like the UEA poll, will only ask teachers the questions. Even though the Burningham poll may be redundant, it does show that politics may soon get into the merit pay issue. But Ulmer warns against stateOne way around the problem resolutions and laws which wide would be to pay science and to blanket all the math teachers more. Another attempt to under one sysdistricts school way would be to raise all tem. The needs of Davis Counteachers pay scales. ty are going to be different than said Ulmer. But one alternative which is Piute County, Each district will have to find receiving broad support both with the public and educators is the system which works for it. teachers. Only 35 percent wanted par- ents to evaluate them and only 1WOWEY 26 percent would like to be eval- uated by students. But in the same UEA poll, teachers were asked that if money was put aside, would the Applications for Home Mortgages Sought Applications are now being taken for some $143 million in single family mortgages through an offereing by the Utah Housing Finance Agency. The monies, which will be loaned through participating lending institutions at a fixed rate interest of 10.55 percent are targeted to help low and moderate income families and individuals in Utah obtain hous- f the use of scholarships to encourage students to develop their teaching skills in areas which arc geted areas and other details concerning the loan program can be obtained by contacting participating lenders, or by contacting the Utah Housing Finance Agency, 177 E. 100 S., Salt Lake City, Utah 84111, (801) The Utah Housing Finance A gency was created by the State Legislature to provide low income interest home loans to cre521-695- RflARKET Dll EFFECTIVE mortgages is obtained by the sale of tax exempt bonds. ' ANNUAL YIELD When you purchase a 6 month Money Markr Certificate of interest. $5,000 or more, Western Heritage offers 10.71 Hus you may choose from a Effective annual yield 1.00 wide variety of FREE GIFT when open your account. 1 Currant Waakly Rat WESTERN 0. ditworthy low and moderate income families. Money for HERITAGE THRIFT & LOAN Bountiful 107 North Main 298-365- 3 Sandy 830 East 9400 South 572-263- 0 St. George 494 East Tabernacle 628-36S- 8 Auditions For Drama Are Dated A BOUNTIFUL orientation will be conducted Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. for persons interested in auditioning to become members of a psycho-socidrama troupe. Psycho-socidrama is an educational tool which uses a combination of music, satire and dramz to depict everyday situations that affect a persons psypre-auditi- al al chological adjustment. The troupe will be hired by DaVis County Mental Health Center to provide substance abuse and mental health education to school and community groups. The orientation, designed to drama explain the psycho-sociconcept and the commitment needed from troupe members, will be held at Davis County Mental Health Center, 470 East Medical Drive in Bountiful. The orientation is a for auditions scheduled to begin Nov. 22. The troupe requires at least six members, preferably talented in both music and drama. Those persons selected to become troupe members will attend a training workshop in late January and begin making presentations thereafter. For further information, contact Stan Fillmore or Joanne al pre-requis- ite Barnes at 298-344- 6. ? CATCH ALL THE SPORTS IN YOUR FREE Lakeside Review jDODKDGD3 4 Every Wednesday iv , The Energy Saving Calculator shows what each electrical appliance costs to operate. Its help you can coifnt on to budget your energy dollars. While its free at any Utah Power office, dont let the price fool you. It just might prove priceless. |