Teacher merit pay is a key element of the education reform plan Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green, Green Bay, wants to put into place.

Green unveiled his plan earlier this week while visiting a high school in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield.

Under his plan an Excellence in Education Task Force would be created by executive order with the mandate of developing a statewide performance-based pay system for Wisconsin's teachers.

This task force would be composed of parents, teachers, school administrators, school board members, civic leaders, business leaders, educational policy experts, policy makers and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Green says he wants teacher pay that rewards teachers for academic excellence and increased student achievement rather than for seniority.

"I think we should pay teachers more for doing a good job - not simply for how long they've been on the job," Green said.

Another element of his plan is to allow the University of Wisconsin to create charter schools and to enact legislation that clarifies what a virtual charter school is. Green believes this would allow more local school districts to start up virtual charter schools.

Yet another part of the Green plan calls for requiring school districts to spend 70 percent of K-12 funding directly on classroom instruction or instruction-related costs.

"An increase of this size for classroom spending would allow school districts across the state to hire a total of at least 4,643 new teachers, or purchase an additional 245,833 computers," Green said.

Like his opponent Gov. Jim Doyle, Green also wants to raise the requirements for math and science throughout the state to three full credits.

Green would also like to see legislation that allows school districts to fire or refuse to employ dangerous convicted felons.

He also wants legislation that allows school districts to be able to competitively bid for services.

Currently, approximately 78 percent of the state's school districts use the Wisconsin Education Association Insurance Corporation (WEAIC) as the health care insurance provider for teachers. WEAIC is an affiliate of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the state's largest teacher's union.

Districts are not able to select another carrier because WEAIC is the only carrier brought to the bargaining table by the union.

Updating Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards is another element of Green's plan. These standards are used by school districts to set academic standards and have not been updated in almost 10 years.

Finally, Green is calling for an expansion of the Milwaukee school choice program.

This would eliminate the cap on the number of students who can enroll in the program, expand the number of schools that can participate in the program and raise the income limit of participating families.