New Jersey Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said today he plans to introduce a measure to tie teacher evaluations to their students’ performance — known as merit pay — in the state’s schools. Schundler, who spoke at a conference on urban school reform held at Princeton University, said afterward that he plans on Monday to unveil a reform agenda for New Jersey public schools and that “student achievement will be part of evaluation systems.” The measures will be part of the state’s new application for Race to the Top – a competitive grant program that could award New Jersey up to $400 million for education reform. Schundler said he hoped a merit pay bill could pass the Legislature by June 1, when the Race to the Top application is due.

“If we do it will make our (application) extremely competitive,” he said.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, has opposed merit pay. The union refused to sign onto the state’s last application for Race to the Top.

A Quinnipiac University Poll published in January found two-thirds of those surveyed in New Jersey want to tie teachers’ pay to their performance. Star Ledger