TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Rick Scott has signed a bill that would put Florida teachers on merit pay while ending tenure for new hires.
Scott went to a charter school in Jacksonville on Thursday to sign the new law that also will chip away at teachers' due process and collective bargaining rights.
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Selected reader comments;
Posted by (cwekurtz) on 03/24/2011 at 10:14 am.
teachers get paid from taxes collected from everyone else.why slould a teacher or anyone else enjoy better benefits or pay than the people paying the taxes just b.c their an organized union that picks political candidates or scares them.this is why college tuition is out of sight like healthcare.the universities run the government all the way up.obama got in b/c he went to harvard just like bush,kennedy,clinton etc.its not what u know its who u know.bernanke prints the debt he is owned by princeton.big money big pension etc.all tax or endowment(tax shelter)supported.it takes 4 yrs to get hired by fire dept now b/c waiting list is so long.why?best pay/benefits going.drive around in 500k truck to fender benders etc.retire in 20 just like teacher at 50%pay at 40 yrs old. not bad. cant do it anywhere else except tax system
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posteted by (unitedcsa) on 03/24/2011 at 10:23 am.
No left wing union riots here ? Wonder why ? It's because true Floridians, the one's that have raised their children here, have witnessed the dismal school system first hand are fed up. Tired of ever increasing school district taxes and higher and higher impact fees with no results. The snow birds and transplant retirees with no more children to raise have no relevance or interest. We have a tourist/service based economy. It's about time Florida children are given consideration. Thank you Scott- a great first step. 2nd step is to require each school board to have a BUSINESS adviser on board to make these districts live within their means
Unitedcsa doesn't realize school boards applying for RTTT funds have written TAX INCREASES INTO THE PROPOSAL
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Posted by (DuhZentBelieveRichSnott) on 03/24/2011 at 10:34 am.
I don't really see the logic in taking money from the system that educates poor kids and giving it to the PRIVATE schools that get $30,000 a year from the likes of Jeb Bush's kids...
...unless of course, you're Jeb Bush, and you own a company that does FCAT remediation with your brothers Marvin and Neil, and are poised to step in and build private schools to suck the taxpayers money off in some effort to disprove the science that has already been done quite satisfactorily...
Oh yeah, Bolles School must be really hurting for money...the KIDS drive Porsche Cayennes, Mercedes etc., etc.
The problem IS though, the CHARTER schools ALWAYS turn out to be crooked and plagued with accounting problems and someone absconding with vast sums of money, and then they don't have enough to provide even the minimum.
Any study done by honest researchers proves that these schools do not perform better on standardized tests, even though they get to cherry-pick the students and reject the disruptive kids.
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Posted by (wannacoach) on 03/24/2011 at 10:39 am.
Karen,
As a physical education teacher, I am curious as to how this will benefit the phys ed teachers? Pay for performance??? How will the evaluate Phys Ed teachers and what scores do you base it on? Do you base it how many push ups or sit ups they do at the beginning of the year then again at the end or do you base it on written exams? Too many questions need to be answered first. There are physical education teachers out there who sit back and roll a ball out every day and just pass their time, giving us who do teach a bad reputation. I am for weeding out the bad teachers, but with this merit pay, how will it affect me?
no dummy, it's a written test. forget the physical aspect of phys ed, now you can teach them sports history
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Posted by (riverview1952) on 03/24/2011 at 11:01 am.
Way to go Dick....now every 6 year old in Florida gets to determine the paycheck of their teacher. When did progress go so far from reality? How will you handle it when an entire class determines to undermine a good teacher, just because she makes them work hard? You have given power to children that they should NEVER have in the classroom!
How long will it take until the people in this state wake up and stand up for what is right?
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Posted by (frilter199) on 03/24/2011 at 11:51 am.
This bill on the surface is awesome; pay more money to higher performing teachers, and fire the worst teachers. There are some major issues though.
1. There is not one penny allocated for this new merit pay system.
2. this umpowers children who already have been overly empowered. Now their performance on a standardized test determines their teachers salary/employment.
3. Many private companies, some which have a political interest, look to make millions off of developing new tests and assessments.
4. Teachers hav no say in what students enter their classes. I can go out and prospect for new customers. Only charter schools can cherry pick which students they want.
5. Why does Scott only acknowledge charter schools? If you look it up, most fail within a few years of openning.
There are GREAT public schools out there. Yes some are dumps, but we have painted all school with the same failing brush. If you stepped in my child's school, you will be impressed with the teachers and the students
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I predict the most visable affect of this bill will not be higher quality of education, only higher taxes, The plan will cost billions to implement, that can only be accomplished by tax increases. Outside of that, It will simply lead to a dramatic increase in the hated practice of teaching to the test.
Governor Scott. I'm sure Barack Obama, Jeb Bush, Maummar Gaddadfi, Bill Gates and others who stand to stand to profit from this, politically or financially, thank you.
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