> It is also insulting to teachers, as if they could have been doing a great job getting the kids to grade level, but chose not to because they weren't financially incentivized enough to do their job.

It may not be the same people though. If teaching in the US was a well-paid and highly respected profession it would presumably retain the most qualified teachers instead of driving them away due to having to find a living wage elsewhere.

Again, that's an insult by implication. That the current failing are due to incompetent teachers and we can fix the problem by paying higher quality teachers to replace them.

> that's going to create all sorts of perverse incentives

That's why you assign the kids to teachers at random, and an independent 3rd party does the assessment.

> It is also insulting to teachers

Only the incompetent ones. The competent ones will be happy to collect those thousand dollar checks.

P.S. Write me a check for $1,000, and I'll cheerfully endure your insults.