Gorman Wants To Change CMS Teacher Pay Scale

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is planning a major shake-up to teacher pay.

Superintendent Peter Gorman said Thursday he wants to switch to a pay-for-performance system where the district pays good teachers more than bad ones -- no matter who has more seniority or degrees.

Gorman said it could take three years to make the change. He said he knows some teachers, especially veteran teachers, will resist. Thank you for participating. Do you agree with Gorman's teacher salary plan? Do you agree with Gorman's teacher salary plan? Yes, good teachers should earn more. No, senority and degrees should count for something.

“We do expect some level of discomfort because it's different. It's change. It's hard," he said.

Mary McCrae, the head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, is already speaking out. She said just because the idea works in other places doesn't mean it'll work here.

"They have different contract rules that they work under so that makes a difference for them," she said.

Parents said they wonder how CMS would make it work.

"You can't just throw all of the numbers into a spreadsheet and have it come out," Pamela Grundy said. "That's part of the difficulty of it."

CMS officials have a lot of details to work out. For example, when Eyewitness News asked if pay-for-performance would cost taxpayers more, less or the same, a CMS representative replied, "We don't know because there isn't a plan yet."

• PDF: CMS Strategic Plan 2014