END OF MERIT PAY SYSTEM ANGERS FAIRFAX TEACHERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993                   TAG: 9303130303
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Short
END OF MERIT PAY SYSTEM ANGERS FAIRFAX TEACHERS
School Superintendent Robert Spillane and many Fairfax County teachers are upset about the School Board's decision to end a controversial merit-pay system that has drawn national attention as a model of educational reform.
But Spillane and teachers say six of the board's 11 members are unlikely to be reappointed in July.
"Tomorrow is another day," Spillane said after Thursday's 6-4 vote. "July is another board."
In voting to phase out the 7-year-old program, the board heeded the objections of critics, who say it is no longer affordable, has failed to reward the system's best teachers and has not raised minority student scores.
The program was suspended last year to save money.
One board member, Letty A. Fleetwood, said merit pay has "been the most divisive issue this School Board has dealt with. I think it's time to lay this particular part of the evaluation system to rest."
But board member Carla Yock maintained that "virtually every teacher, even those who have not measured up, says it has improved instruction in their school . . . I hate to see it end because I think it is a step toward mediocrity."
And Sherry Stephenson, a teacher and the president of the Association of Fairfax Professional Educators, said the board "lost an opportunity to show the rest of the country what they can do for teachers who are excellent."
Under the program, teachers who passed a rigorous evaluation have been given 9 percent raises.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB