Big-City Districts Bail on Teacher-Incentive Grants

Three big-city districts—Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York—have terminated federal grants aimed at promoting performance-based compensation plans and professional development for teachers and principals.

Overall, the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund grants to the three districts would have provided an $88 million payout over five years—nearly 20 percent of the federal program's five-year budget of $442 million. All three districts aimed to secure union support while meeting grant requirements during the yearlong planning period permitted by the grant, but none was ultimately able to accomplish that task.

In a time of fiscal austerity and attacks on teachers' unions, getting districts and unions to work together and agree on teacher compensation and evaluation is a challenging task. Recognizing that challenge, the U.S. Department of Education has adjusted its requirements for the 2012 version of the TIF grant, which were published in June. The new set of rules notably does not include the planning period that allowed districts to receive grants without acquiring sign-off from their teachers' unions in 2010.

"We've been identifying challenges and moving forward to improve the program," said Michael Yudin, formerly the principal deputy assistant secretary for the office of elementary and secondary education, who recently became the acting assistant secretary in the office of special education.

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