Georgia: Cheaters never prosper - literally

Legislation recently sent to the governor's desk in Georgia is intended to hit teachers who cheat where it counts--in their wallets. Very likely in response to the 2011 Atlanta testing scandal that made national news, H.B. 692 provides that any teacher or other certified staff member's salary increase or bonus based on an evaluation that included student assessment results found to be falsified is to be automatically forfeited. And any amount of the bonus or salary increase that the staff member already received before the cheating came to light must be repaid in full.

While states have been taking various approaches to curb cheating by teachers and administrators on student tests, I don't recall seeing states go after the salary increases or bonuses that the good or improved test scores would eventually result in. It will be interesting to see if this approach catches on elsewhere--particularly as an increasing number of states seem to be looking into teacher pay for performance, including barring pay increases for teachers scoring in the lowest tier in teacher evaluation systems.