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GREENSBORO — Naquita McCormick, principal of Kirkman Park Elementary , says money isn’t something she talks about when interviewing teachers.

“The money piece was never an issue, never came up. That’s not why we do this,” she said.

But money is an issue for Kirkman Park and 29 other Guilford County schools where principals and select teachers receive thousands more a year under the school district’s Mission Possible program.

Mission Possible pays teachers and principals bonuses and higher salaries for working in schools and teaching courses deemed by the district as hard to fill.

The program costs about $4 million a year to operate. The bulk of that funding comes from a federal grant that will run out after the next school year.

The Guilford County Board of Education is expected to review a proposal tonight that would make significant changes to Mission Possible.

Most notable are recommendations to offer incentives to every employee at designated schools and to tie more of those incentives to how well students perform.

“After four years of implementing MP, we’ve discovered ways we can improve our approach,” said Amy Holcombe, the school district’s executive director of talent development.

Currently, English and math teachers and principals working in select schools with a history of high turnover and difficulty recruiting staff receive incentive pay. Some of them make as much as $15,000 more than their counterparts.

The proposed plan still would target schools with a history of being difficult to staff, and math and English teachers still would benefit more than others. However, other teachers could make between $1,500 to $10,500 extra per year. Other positions, such as custodians, could make up to $750 extra per year.

The pay incentives would be based on whether the school meets academic growth goals and on the quality of individual teachers based on district criteria.

There have been complaints that Mission Possible has frustrated some teachers who are excluded from the incentives, a point several school board members have taken up, too.

School board member Sandra Alexander supports making incentives available to everyone at the selected schools, including positions such as janitor or guidance counselor.

“They’re still part of the team,” she said. “The teachers cannot do their job without the support of the others on their team.”

The change is supported by the Guilford County Association of Educators as well, said Tijuana Hayes, GCAE president.

Holcombe said the revised incentive compensation plan should cost less, but it’s unclear how much.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com