DC Mayor-Elect May End Teacher Merit Pay System

Presumptive Washington D.C. mayor Janeese Lewis George may end the city's teacher evaluation system, a key component of a pay-for-performance plan introduced in 2007. Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of D.C. Public Schools and Venture Partner at Equal Opportunity Ventures, discussed the potential shift on The Education Exchange podcast on July 20, 2026. This merit-pay program, implemented during Rhee's tenure, has been credited with significant student gains in reading and math, reportedly well above national averages over the past 20 years.

Lewis George, a socialist Democrat, has pledged to the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) that she will discontinue the teacher evaluations that are essential to the merit-pay program. This promise has raised concerns among proponents of the existing system, who attribute the substantial educational improvements in D.C. schools to these reforms. The potential reversal of these policies marks a dramatic turnabout in the nation's capital.

Rhee, who led the D.C. school system when the pay-for-performance plan was established, joined Paul E. Peterson, host of The Education Exchange and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, to analyze the implications of Lewis George's potential policy changes. The discussion focused on the history of the merit-pay program and its impact on student achievement, as well as the future direction of Washington schools under the incoming administration.