Gov. Jon Huntsman wants to give Utah students a better education, but to do that, he says, teachers need higher pay.

We agree -- but with the emphasis on "better." To improve the state's education system in the 21st century, we must leave behind outmoded models. And that includes how teachers are compensated.

The governor's $11.7 billion budget proposal includes about $3.7 billion for public education. The centerpiece is a 7 percent increase in the basic funding formula for schools. That will mean significant raises for teachers across the board.

Huntsman told the Herald editorial board last week that teachers in Utah are underpaid with an average salary of $44,900 compared to $52,100 nationwide. National household median income in 2006 was $48,201, which includes all income earners, according to the U.S. Census.

Huntsman also said that low pay is causing a teacher shortage. On the first day of classes this year, for example, Utah schools were 400 teachers short. He cited anecdotal evidence that low pay is causing teachers to seek employment in other states, though he had no hard figures on this.

There is no question that Utah is changing fast, and the cost of living is going up for everyone. If teachers have been artificially held back as a group, we can think of no better investment than the highest quality education our tax dollars can buy. The only question is how to do it.

The governor says that if Utah, with its solid economy, will continue to boost teacher salaries at about 7 percent, in a few years the state will rank at the national average -- which sounds good in an election year.

But that may be the wrong figure to set as the benchmark. After all, averages are averages because some units of a given classification are higher and some are lower. Not everyone can be at the average. Averages don't really answer the question whether teacher compensation is reasonable in a particular city or state.

What about those states in which teacher pay is above the national averagefi Would Huntsman advocate a pay cutfi We don't think so.

The governor calls eloquently for the state to surge into a high-tech future, but focusing on average pay bogs Utah down in the past. If we want high-performance schools, money should be used to reward high-performing teachers. Pay raises, when given across the board, tend to retain poor teachers as well as good one.

We'd like to see a model adopted for public education under which the best performers would get the lion's share of the raises. Performance, not seniority, should be the primary criterion for compensation. Over time, performance-based compensation would raise the quality of public education.

In short, our best teachers should be rewarded handsomely.

When asked whether he supports merit pay, Huntsman said, "Absolutely." But he wants to start with school principals. He proposing setting aside $500,000 to reward the best of them. As for teachers, he said he wants to raise salaries globally before getting to merit pay.

Well, it's an election year, and such rhetoric should play well in the public education sector. But global raises are like paying in advance for something we may never get. If you throw more money at public education, Utah may end up with the same results, only with a higher price tag. This is what happened when the federal government took over airport security after 9/11. Everybody got a raise. Yet read the news. You can decide whether security has really improved.

Devising an effective merit pay system for a job as subjective as teaching is a challenge, but not impossible. Business managers evaluate subjective factors all the time when reviewing employee performance. What is needed in the public schools is performance evaluation based on some combination of elements, with an accounting for differences in groups of students. The teacher's job is to drive progress, regardless of the starting point of students.

The greater the progress, the greater the reward -- like a sales commission program.

Principals, the front-line managers, should have greater latitude to evaluate performance. They know who their best people are. An evaluation of a teacher might include such things as creating a positive environment for children (perhaps including feedback from parents), innovation, creativity, knowledge of subject matter and communication. If a principal is also subject to merit pay based on overall performance of the school, fears of favoritism should be minimized.

The Legislature and the governor should explore merit pay for teachers this year, before throwing more money that clearly will do little but maintain the status quo.

But merit pay is not the only innovation that ought to be evaluated. What would have happened this year, for instance, if the $349 million that went to teachers had been poured into lower-priced staff supportfi If teachers could be freed from the time-consuming routine of grading and other rote work, perhaps they would have more time to plan, more time to energize, more time to inspire.

Nor should teachers be drawn exclusively from education programs at universities. A great candidate for a teacher is one who is alive with the excitement of a subject and wants to transmit that to others. A wide range of graduates is needed to populate the teaching ranks in Utah's future schools, and barriers to entry should be minimized.

The seeds of education reform are being planted in Utah. A few can be found in Huntsman's proposed state budget. But stronger, quicker action is needed. Additional taxpayer dollars should be carefully targeted to achieve results.

As the governor told the Herald: "Money is never the answer. It's got to be coupled with ideas."