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Fate of Denver’s Pay Plan Rests With Voters

Organized opposition limited to one small group of teachers.

Denver voters go to the polls next week to decide the fate of a new pay plan for teachers, with only a small band of opponents challenging the property-tax hike that would finance the change.

The pay framework, which would stop rewarding teachers for their years in the classroom and start recognizing a host of skills and achievements on the job, has been closely watched nationwide because it would mean a radical shift in the way teachers are usually paid and would affect a sizable district of 70,000 students.

The initiative was endorsed by a vote of the members of the main Denver teachers’ union in March of last year, advancing funding for the framework to this year’s ballot as Question 3A. Voters will be asked Nov. 1 to pass a property-tax increase that would amount to $24 per year on every $100,000 of a home’s value, coming to $56 annually, say, for a...