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OGDEN -- The Ogden teachers' union is planning a rally next week. They are upset over what they say is an ultimatum - either accept a move toward performance pay over the next few years, or lose your job.
Sara Byrd is a junior high teacher in Ogden, now weighing her future with the district after getting a take-it-or-leave-it letter.
"It's making everyone really upset and scared," Byrd said. The Ogden board of education is moving toward merit pay or performance pay over the next 6 years. The idea has gained a lot of traction in Utah, but teachers opposed to merit pay say they see problems with how teachers will be evaluated.
My concern is that they want me to follow a system that hasn't been proven to help.
–- Sara Byrd
Byrd says it's not time yet.
"My concern is that they want me to follow a system that hasn't been proven to help."
Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who sponsored the bill that created the pilot merit pay program defended it on the Doug Wright Show July 7.
"I think this is a positive step forward. Again, I am not afraid of merit pay and think that educators shouldn't be afraid of it either.
Hughes says it's the teachers unions that are dragging their feet on this in an attempt to maintain the status quo.
The Ogden education association is working out the details for a rally, tentatively on Thursday July 14 at Liberty Park, 751 21st Street in Ogden at 10 a.m. The contract sent out to teachers like Byrd says they need to sign by July 20.
Story written with contributions from Marc Giauque and Mary Richards.
