The budget Gov. Gray Davis signed Friday includes nearly $1 billion to be awarded to students, teachers, principals and schools based on a single measure: Stanford 9 test scores.
Teachers at schools with the biggest improvements could earn $25,000 bonuses. Top-scoring students could pocket $3,500 scholarships. Everyone from janitors to principals could enjoy $1,600 paydays if their schools meet state growth targets on the exam.
Yet the money carries a downside as well.
Many educators already complain about the intense pressures to excel on the Stanford 9, a basic skills test that is the sole measure used by California to rank schools in its new accountability system.
The incentives included in the new budget, they say, will heap more weight on campuses, threatening to warp public education by giving instructors added reasons to "teach to the test" or, worse, to cheat.
"If you put out the game rules, educators will learn to play the game," said W. James Popham, an emeritus professor of education at UCLA. "The higher the stakes, the greater the instructional corruption."
In all, more than $913 million in incentives will be available to schools in the coming year. It will be handed out on the basis of tests that were taken last spring. The state will release the scores on July 17.
The money breaks down in five ways:
* $350 million to provide bonuses of about $1,600 to all employees at schools whose scores on the state Accountability Performance Index rise by 5%.
* $227 million more for schools that meet their 5% growth targets. This money can be used by campuses in any way they want, including materials, training or staff bonuses.
* $100 million in bonuses for teachers at schools that show extraordinary testing gains, defined as an increase of more than 10% on the performance index. At least 1,000 teachers are expected to get $25,000 each. The remaining money will be divided into $5,000 and $10,000 bonuses, based on student improvement.
* $118.6 million to help schools in the bottom half of the accountability index recruit and retain fully credentialed teachers. Schools can use the money for signing bonuses, to forgive home loans and for other incentives.
* $118 million for merit scholarships based on Stanford 9 scores. The money will provide $1,000 scholarships for ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders who score in the top 10% of their school or the top 5% of students statewide.
