Fordham's Mike Petrilli is participating in an online discussion where panelists--even as I type this--are attempting to answer the question "Do we need a new deal for teachers?" ??Moderator Steve Farkas, of the Farkas Duffett Research Group, kicked things off by wondering which groups are truly interested in a new deal and who will lead the effort to change the status quo. Will it be teacher unions, new teachers, district administrators or legislators?
Mike took an immediate bite at that apple. He argued that "harsh fiscal realities will be the true impetus" for making a new deal for teachers that looks something like higher pay in return for less job security and more modest retirement benefits. ??With baby-boomers' retirement burdening social security and Medicare, competition for public funds will become fierce, the era of ballooning school budgets will end and policymakers will realize that teachers' retirement benefits are unsustainable, he wrote. Eventually, the conversation will turn, he said, to a new system of teacher pay--"one that relies more on 'front-loading' teacher pay and moving to a 401(k) style retirement system."
The ongoing discussion runs today, tomorrow and Thursday and is hosted at www.NewTalk.org. Other participants include Philip Howard of Common Good--the non-profit organization that created the NewTalk chat site; Bob Wise of Alliance for Excellent Education; Michael Mulgrew of United Federation of Teachers and Frederick Hess of American Enterprise Institute.