Education Failed General Election
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PEAPAC Recommends: YES

Biblical principle that worker is worthy of wages implies pay for performance (1 Tim 5:18).

Summary

Bases teacher pay raises on classroom performance rather than seniority.

Biblical Reasoning

Common sense would dictate that one’s wages be tied in some way to one’s performance. This same truth is found in the Bible. “The worker is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim. 5:18, Luke 10:7) implies that wages and labor are to be linked, that is, that pay should be based on performance.

This same truth seems to lie behind our Lord’s command in 1 Cor. 9:14 that those who preach the gospel should be paid for that labor. Jesus doesn’t say a man is entitled to wages just because he has been a pastor for a number of years. But rather his pay is based on his performance. And 1 Tim. 5:17 says that those elders who perform their tasks well are to be given double honor, meaning double pay. This is pay for performance.

1 Timothy 5:18 — “The worker is worthy of his wages”
Luke 10:7 — “The worker is worthy of his wages”
1 Corinthians 9:14 — “This same truth seems to lie behind our Lord’s command in 1 Cor. 9:14 that those who preach the gospel should be paid for that labor.”
1 Timothy 5:17 — “those elders who perform their tasks well are to be given double honor”
Matthew 20 — “Employers have the right to set wages ( Matthew 20)”

Election Results

39%
61%
YesNo

Voters rejected teacher merit pay (61% No).

Full PEAPAC Analysis

PEAPAC Commentary This straight-forward Measure presents the voter with two choices. Should public school teachers be paid based on their seniority or on their performance? Asked this way, the answer seems obvious. Common sense would dictate that one’s wages be tied in some way to one’s performance. This same truth is found in the Bible. “The worker is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim. 5:18, Luke 10:7) implies that wages and labor are to be linked, that is, that pay should be based on performance. This same truth seems to lie behind our Lord’s command in 1 Cor. 9:14 that those who preach the gospel should be paid for that labor. Jesus doesn’t say a man is entitled to wages just because he has been a pastor for a number of years. But rather his pay is based on his performance. And 1 Tim. 5:17 says that those elders who perform their tasks well are to be given double honor, meaning double pay. This is pay for performance.

Pay for performance will usually result in more pay for more experienced teachers, since their experience should make them more effective teachers. Additionally, teachers will actually be helped by this policy, as it will serve as one more incentive to become more effective in their performance and thus more satisfied in their labors. And of course, the end result is an increase in the quality of education for students.

Measure 60 is not a Constitutional amendment, and thus relies upon the Legislature and State Board of Education to flesh out the details of this basic “pay for performance” policy. This is sensible, and a further encouragement to vote Yes on this important Measure.

One final note. We believe that parents, not the general population, are tasked by God to provide for their children’s education. We further believe that their education is to be explicitly Christian, which it can’t be in government schools. While we support Measures 58 and 60, the long term task of reforming public schools will ultimately be accomplished by abolishing them. We urge all Christian parents to diligently seek Christian schooling for the children God has entrusted to them. And we urge all Christian churches to pledge themselves as resources to families as they seek to honor God in their choice of schooling

Related Measures

Measure 58 (2008) — Also supported as short-term reform while working toward abolition of public schools View →

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