Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Like Whimpy, Florida will gladly pay teachers, someday




Listening to the the Florida House of Representatives debating SB 736, Florida's Education Reform Bill theat ties student performance to teachers pay made me think of Whimpy from the Old Popeye Cartoons.

Whimpy was a con artist, who would always promise to pay people someday, for a hamburger today.  For the Last two months Sandra in Brevard has been asking what the legislature's Education Reform Bill would cost Floridians.  For months the bills promoters have refused to answer.  Many of you watched the video of Senator Wise dance around the subject when asked directly on the Senate Floor.

Today's performance in the House was almost as bad.  Republican after Republican stuck with the talking points and avoided mentioning cost or how it was to be paid for.  Some had the courage to admit there's no money to pay for the bill, and like Whimpy they promise to pay the teacher's "Someday".  Like Whimpy they showed no concern over the cost of implementation. developing the required tests or even the teachers pay itself.

Besides the way it's written the costs can be passed down the pipeline like yesterday's hamburgers.  Districts would be required to give students tests on which a portion of a teacher's evaluation would be based.. neither provision would receive state funding

 In my opinion the Democrats should have pressured the Republicans harder than they did, most seemed to consider it a lost cause.  A few tried asking why the teachers should trust them, and were the money would come from to create the tests.  One Democrat whose name I didn't catch offered to go put Obama 2012 signs up for all the Republicans about to vote for a law that would implement Obama's Race to the top scheme..

The Bill now goes to Governors Scott's desk, where all indications are he'll sign it...



Can anything be done, check back around noon tomorrow for an answer

3 comments:

  1. What we need is more gambling to pay for all this gambling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It appears that the leadership decided the outcome on this months ago. With a super majority, the outcome was sealed. Accountability is not important.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, lookes like Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Jeb Bush, in that order, are in charge of the Florida Republican Machine

    ReplyDelete

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