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GUILFORD COUNTY -- Guilford County Schools will host a series of forums next week to discuss whether it should offer additional incentives to teachers based on the performance of their students.

Even though the idea is in its early stages, school leaders are already weighing in on the plans.

"That's what we're trying to hope for, to get a quality teacher for every student in the district," said Dr. Amy Holcombe, the executive director of talent development.

Holcombe is spearheading the district's campaign to create strategic compensation for teachers and other school employees.

"You have to decide who is going to be the recipient of these, because you don't have unlimited funds to provide everyone compensation. The whole idea behind strategic compensation is to award people differently because the jobs that they do are very different," said Holcombe.

Holcombe says the program could be similar to the district's Mission Possible program, which aims to retain teachers in schools that are hard to staff.

"Mission Possible teachers can make anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 in addition to their regular salaries," said Holcombe.

Tijuana Hayes, president of the Guilford County Associated of Educators, is in favor of compensation programs, but she does have some concerns.

"Where we differ is, we do not support compensation based on students test scores alone," Hayes said. “Our educators as well as our classified just want to make sure that all of the employees are considered in the plan.”

Hayes says the association favors the single-salaried schedule because it rewards knowledge and experience. They also say it's the fairest.

"As the teacher comes into the profession, they know exactly what their pay scale is and then as they work and as they gain experience, they receive salary experience along the steps," said Hayes.

However, school leaders say they are taking it one step at a time.

"The first question that we need to answer is: Do we want a different compensation system in Guilford County?" says Dr. Holcombe.