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Time to get serious Governor

It's a little strange to ask for input once you've already decided what it is you're going to do, but the Governor and his education Czar seem to be doing just that, according to a report in the Dispatch

Gov. John Kasich wants Ohio's teachers to help him establish guidelines for judging them in a merit-based pay system.

It was an invitation he issued today after he signed a bill that will welcome a new batch of teachers to the state through Teach for America.

Kasich asked Ohio's 115,000 public-school teachers to suggest how to judge their performance in the classroom; that's to be the sole determinant of how they will be paid, based on changes in collective-bargaining laws for the state's public employees.

An email will do.

If the Governor truly wants to collaborate on this, then he needs to have the merit pay provisions stripped out of the budget bill to give people time to design a real solution. The Governor and his Czar need to bring all the stakeholders together and not simply ask people to email ideas.

As a means to solving complex problems like teacher evaluation and merit pay, emailing isn't a serious suggestion. The process needs to be open and deliberative. you don't design a merit pay system using a suggestion box.

You can ask the Governor to create a serious framework for collaboration on this issue here.