Kanawha County, W.Va., teachers who come to work every day will soon have to make do with the satisfaction of a job well done, rather than up to $1,050 in incentive pay.
The county school board has agreed that the budget for the 2009-10 school year won’t include the incentive, which was created in an effort to save on costs for substitute teachers. In the last school year, the county spent $582,000 more in incentive pay than it saved on hiring fewer substitutes.
Kanawha County Education Association President Dinah Adkins says scrapping the policy will likely lead to higher teacher-absenteeism rates. School board member Pete Thaw says a better policy would punish teachers who have poor attendance rates.