Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to put Georgia teachers on a pay-for-results system.

He proposes to pay each teacher based on "overall effectiveness" with 50 percent of that being the academic progress of the students. Under his plan - which aims at landing up to $400 million in federal tax money - current teachers could opt for pay tied to student performance or elect to stick with the existing salary system based on education and experience. Regardless, in 2014 all new teachers would automatically be enrolled in the new system.

Perdue said his proposal "truly rewards excellence in education."

If it's such a great idea, why in the world should we limit pay-for-results to teachers?

How about amending the Perdue bill to cover all elected officials in Georgia, starting with the governor?

Let's base the governor's pay on his performance, such as how many new jobs were created during each year of his administration, how many new roads or other improvements were made to the state's transportation system and the overall progress or lack of progress in all other major areas of government including future water supplies.

There would be objections from the governor, no doubt, blaming the severe recession for massive loss of jobs in Georgia and huge drops in revenues that stymied growth. That's certainly understandable. How could the governor be blamed for circumstances beyond his control?

Funny thing. That's the same kind of problem our teachers face. They have to work with conditions and students as they find them. They have to teach all the students in their classes. They have students from the best of environments that enable them to excel in their studies. Teachers also have students from the worst environments, sometimes resulting in serious disadvantages for the students and poor academic performance.

It brings to mind a comment by the late Gov. Lester Maddox, who despite all his foibles and shortcomings, got this one right. He said Georgia prisons weren't going to get any better until there was a "better class of prisoners."

Under Perdue's plan, no such excuse could be made. And on that point, why shouldn't the pay-for-performance plan include the state's prison commissioner? Shouldn't his pay be based on results such as the recidivism rate?

Of course, the compensation for the state school superintendent would be based on the progress or lack of progress in the rate of high school graduations, SAT scores, results of other standardized tests and measures of academic progress.

And ditto for all other state department heads and members of the General Assembly.

On the local level, the salaries of all elected officials would be based on their accomplishments as well.

School boards, same as teachers, would have their pay based on the academic progress of the students.

This could revolutionize government in Georgia. All that's needed is to amend the governor's bill to include him and all other elected officials in the state.

If it's good for teachers, it must be good for everybody else.

dmckee9613@aol.com