PAY BASED ON PERFORMANCE............

A couple of fresh faces on the Peabody School Committee decided to reverse course and vote for accountability over more veteran members' desire not to rock the boat.

Jarrod Hochman and Tom Rossignoll, elected to the board last November, joined Brandi Carpenter in endorsing the city's application for federal funds available under the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative. (Both voted against a similar request last January.)

It's not a lot of money — $120,000 a year over four years if the state is chosen to participate — and all it does is pay for an analysis of student test scores which, as Superintendent Milton Burnett pointed out, would likely have to be done anyway.

But what has the teachers' union and its allies on the committee in such a lather is the thought that someday, someone might want to make a connection between those scores and the ability of one or more of those currently on the payroll to actually teach.

Pay based on performance is pretty standard in private industry, but it's a horrifying prospect for those in the public sector. And though no one has suggested teacher pay be tied to test scores in Peabody, the Peabody Federation of Teachers wants nothing to do with this Race to the Top business.

Committeeman David McGeney agreed, terming the whole program "a boondoggle."

Fortunately, with Mayor Michael Bonfanti voicing his support, a majority opted to ignore the union and McGeney's objections and take the money if it's offered.

 $120,000.00  IS SMALL CHANGE ONLY IF IT IS NOT YOUR MONEY TO GIVE BUT TO GET?