Prince William County school officials unveiled a plan Wednesday night to offer bonuses to teachers and administrators in high-performing schools that serve poor or challenging students.
The plan, if approved by the school board later this month, will be submitted to the federal government for possible funding and could begin as early as next school year.
Prince William, the state's second-largest school system, is one of scores across the country that are developing pay proposals tied to student performance thanks to new federal dollars and fresh interest from the nation's top education officials.
"We had talked about merit pay or performance pay informally over time. But when the Obama administration again came out and recommended those kinds of approaches . . . I just felt like it was time to stop talking about it and start moving forward," said School Board member Grant E. Lattin (Occoquan), who asked officials to put together a plan last spring.
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