In today’s Post, I take a look at Obama’s commitment to merit pay:

In his speech before Congress, in his stimulus bill and in his new budget, President Obama has sent a clear message to the educrats who argue that money is everything when it comes to fixing public schools: Get over it.

Is New York City’s education establishment listening?

“We know that our schools don’t just need more resources,” the president said Tuesday. “They need more reform.”

Specifically, on top of a welcome pledge to “expand our commitment to charter schools,” Obama promised to create “incentives for teacher performance, pathways for advancement and rewards for success.” What does this mean? In short: merit pay.

Of course, the teachers unions, a key Democratic constituency, are allergic to merit pay - as they are to any kind of accountability. Looking at how teachers perform in the classroom and then rewarding the good ones with checks? It’s an assault on mom, apple pie and the American way - if you listen to the status quo’s defenders.

But Obama’s stimulus bill has allocated $200 million to the Teacher Incentive Fund, a pot of money used by the federal Department of Education to assist merit-pay pilot programs.

Of course, it’d be nice if he put even more money behind it. He’s certainly putting enough behind early childhood education, when the real problem in our schools is middle school and high school.

The column ends with a challenge: We’re already trying a merit-pay-light pilot program in New York City (where every teacher at a school is rewarded, collectively, for performance). Let’s apply for the federal money to conduct a real merit-pay pilot program. Our teachers union always wants more money for children? Well, here’s a big federal pot of it.

Let the chips fall where they may. The kids can only benefit. And the teachers can only see higher compensation.

[archive copy of this column here]