I would like to thank Ryan Olson for his guidance, support and insight. Several peer reviewers generously gave us the benefit of their expertise and meticulously examined a draft of this publication: my thanks to Sandra Stotsky, Dan Goldhaber, Patrick Wolf and Barbara Ruga. This primer reflects the insights and assistance of others as well, including an important legal analysis of the constitutionality of merit pay in Michigan by Mackinac Center Senior Legal Analyst Patrick Wright.
I would also like to thank Gary Ritter, Jay Greene, Bob Costrell, Matthew Carr and, of course, Taylor Holley. The final version of this document reflects many of their fine suggestions and is the better for it, but I remain solely responsible for any errors that remain. I am also grateful to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Michael Jahr, Hannah Mead and Daniel Montgomery for their many fine efforts on this project.
Finally, I want to thank the Mackinac Center for Public Policy for its support of, and interest in, this project.