Alaska Governor Seeks Incentives for School Employees

Alaska officials are seeking their own version of the pay-for-performance models being tested or proposed in some of the Lower 48 states. The plan offers bonuses not only to teachers, but also to principals, secretaries, cooks, janitors, and other school employees.

Gov. Frank H. Murkowski and Education Commissioner Roger Sampson are backing the “school performance incentive program,” which ties the extra pay to students’ academic improvement.

Both men have sought to distinguish the program from traditional merit-pay initiatives, which they believe pit employees against one another. The Alaska incentive program, unveiled Jan. 11, would foster cooperation, they predict, by providing money to a wide range of school workers, with payouts...