Mississippi’s superintendent of education says a White House plan to reward high performing teachers with higher pay is a good idea in theory, but he wonders how it would work.

President Obama recently unveiled an initiative on teacher merit pay.

State schools superintendent Hank Bounds, on hand for Sunday’s dedication of the new D’Iberville High School, told WLOX-TV that pay incentives could help to retain teachers, but the question is trying to figure out how to apply dollars to performance.

Bounds says the state really needs incentives that would attract more people to enter the teaching profession since there are about 2,500 vacancies across Mississippi right now.