Houston We Have A Problem?

That title is just too easy…the school board in Houston wants to experiment with merit-based teacher pay there. Not a lot of details yet but keep an eye out. It seems as though the political debate about this issue is pretty much over in terms of the general principle that excellence must be rewarded in a profession. In other words, what was once considered a controversial idea is now accepted even by pretty left-leaning groups. Now comes the hard part, figuring out what works in practice and that’s going to be messy since ideological opposition has stymied most innovation until recently. NYT here.