Giving teachers pay hikes of at least $20,000 and turning schools over to private contractors were two of the recommendations put forward this week by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, an independent group of high-level government and business leaders (including, for example, Michael Bloomberg and Rod Paige). Tasked with creating a plan to make U.S. schools more competitive, the commission also proposed switching teachers’ retirement benefits from pensions to 401k plans and allowing students in vocational programs to enroll in trade schools or community colleges after 10th grade. The plan would take an estimated 15 years to implement and cost approximately $60 billion.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Web Watch blog.
