Senator John Kerry turned more than a few heads last week when he unveiled a proposal to spend $20 billion over ten years to recruit, train and reward better teachers but tied the funding to a commitment by states to 1) adopt pay-for-performance salary plans linked at least in part to student achievement gains; 2) raise the rigor of their licensure tests; and 3) simplify the rules for firing teachers.

Said Kerry: "I believe we need to offer teachers more pay, more training, more career choices and more options for education. And we must ask more in return. That's the bargain."

A spokesman for the NEA, Michael Pons, described the plan "as among the most comprehensive" he has seen from a presidential candidate, but more telling was his comment that "I think there's something to work from there." More frank, NEA president Reg Weaver remarked, "We look forward to discussing ways to help strengthen Sen. Kerry's proposals."

While a $20 billion plan may have a hard time making it through Congress, Kerry also proposed a cost-neutral plan to tackle the low standards of many of the nation's 1400 schools of education. Kerry wants to make future federal aid to colleges of education contingent on their graduates' meeting federally set performance levels. It's inevitable that the bar won't get set very high, but we'll settle for a few inches off the floor.