What do an economics professor, a major newspaper, and your
mother have in common? They all agree that you get what you pay for.
A recent New York Times
article on the difficulties experienced by manufacturers looking for skilled labor
points out the real problem – pay so low
that McDonald’s is a better career choice.
Similarly, testifying on behalf of a coalition that is suing
the state of Texas to provide more money for education, Jacob Vigdor of Duke
University described how teacher salaries far below those of
competing states are preventing Texas from recruiting effective teachers.
We’ve long agreed that paying teachers as the professionals
they are, including front-loading
salaries and rewarding excellence, is key to attracting and recruiting the best. Like our
mothers always said, quality isn’t cheap.
