Balloting ends today in the election for president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, a race that pits the architect of the district's pay-for-performance teacher program against a critic of the effort.

        The vote — which is expected to be close — could mean fundamental changes for the nation's first teacher-evaluation system tied to pay, and designed to improve student achievement.

        Union President Rick Beck, a former math teacher at Woodward High, and instrumental in several education reforms, is challenged by Hughes Center social studies teacher Susan Taylor, who also helped create the pay-for-performance system.

        Election results will be presented to the full membership for ratification April 18, although results could be known earlier. The union president serves a two-year term.
       

No mandate expected

        Teachers on both sides of the debate predict the winner will not get a sweeping mandate. Though teachers did not want to be quoted, they did share their views:

        • Those who like Ms. Taylor say they favor her moderate approach to reforms that focus on student improvement. They like her promises to listen to all members.

        • Those who prefer Mr. Beck say he has a proven record and understands the importance of getting good raises for teachers. Good pay means teachers can afford to spend time improving skills, helping students and bettering their profession, they said.

        “The anxiety level of teachers is at an all-time high,” Ms. Taylor said in a campaign statement. She declined an at-length interview. “The current implementation of (the evaluation system) is reform for the sake of reform; not for the sake of increasing student achieve ment.”

        Mr. Beck said he knows many teachers have fundamental concerns about the new evaluation system.

        “I was aware there would be no smooth sailing,” Mr. Beck said. “We are doing something demanding and different and asking folks to accept something that's challenging.”

        The 3,100-member Cincinnati Federation of Teachers is known nationally for working with the administration and Board of Education to start the country's only pay-for-performance plan for teachers — and other reforms — in a district declared to be in “academic emergency” by the state.

        Under the plan, teachers are judged through in-class visits on how well they meet 16 teaching standards. In the future, their rankings could be tied to large pay increases.

        Teachers will vote in the fall of 2002 to accept the pay portion of the plan, which must pass by 70 percent.

        Recent votes and events also paint a picture of just how close this election will be:

        • Union membership voted in September to accept pay-for-performance by 1,255 to 1,046 — or 54.5 percent in favor to 45.4 percent against.

        • High stress experienced by some teachers caused the union in January to change a fundamental piece of the program. Now half of what were six surprise classroom observations will be scheduled, to help ease teacher anxiety.

        • When Mr. Beck was elected last May, he won by 42 votes.

        • When teachers voted last fall to ratify their current contract, it passed by 54 percent.

        All teachers in Cincinnati Public Schools pay union dues. Those who are full-fledged members pay $536.12 a year. Those who enjoy union benefits without voting rights pay “fair share” dues of $468.26 a year.

        Both candidates are key players in bringing new education methods and standards to the district.

        Mr. Beck, 51, was groomed for the job by former CFT President Tom Mooney. He is just the second president in 21 years. He was elected in May after Mr. Mooney left to become president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers in Columbus.

        Although he is the architect of the pay-for-performance plan, Mr. Beck is not the outspoken, media-savvy president his predecessor was.

        But he got the pay-for-performance plan implemented. And in his 10 years as bargaining chairman he won big experience-based raises and increases for teachers.

        He speaks in the fast, snappy style of an East Coaster but is a native Cincinnatian. He likes the results of his work to speak for themselves.

        “I knew pay-for-performance would be politically difficult, but I won't look over my shoulder,” Mr. Beck said. “People who know me know what I'm about.”
       

Helped several reforms

        Ms. Taylor, with 22 years in the district, runs a teacher-intern program at Hughes Center. In 1999, she was named CFT Member of the Year. She helped pilot several reforms, including peer evaluation. And she served on the bargaining team that negotiated the pay-for-performance system.

        Ms. Taylor declined an at-length interview. In talks with teachers, and in her campaign literature and on her Web site, she advocates a more gradual kind of reform, promising better communication with all union members.

        She is counting on support from teachers who feel disenfranchised or unheard. If elected, she would halt the full-fledged start of the new evaluation plan and work on it piece by piece.

        “We know that successfully learning new skills and concepts takes creative teaching which engages students as active participants,” she said in a campaign statement.

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