Contest offers $10K for top bad teachers

WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- A group in Washington says it hopes severance packages for poorly performing teachers sparks talk about the difficulty schools have firing teachers.

The Center for Union Facts, an anti-union group, Tuesday asked parents, students and other teachers to nominate potential winners in "The Ten Worst Union-Protected Teachers" contest via the organization's Web site, USA Today reported.

The center says it will pick 10 and offer each $10,000 to quit the profession. To receive the buyout, those selected must allow the center to write about them on its Web site.

"We're not trying to humiliate anyone," says union-busting attorney Rick Berman said. "We're trying to jump-start a conversation that maybe people need severance packages to find themselves another line of work."

Berman told USA Today he hopes to convince education advocates to adopt his severance package concept as a school improvement strategy.

Edward McElroy, American Federation of Teachers president, said Berman "is coming after teachers at a time when most Americans support education and want to make improving education a top national priority."