Bleary-eyed House sends sweeping education reforms to governor
by Dara Kam | April 9th, 2010After pontificating for nearly 12 hours, the Florida House at 2:30 this morning finalized approval of a sweeping package of public school changes that could eventually reach every student and teacher in the state.
The divided House ultimately sent to Gov. Charlie Crist a quartet of bills that could prove to be the most significant education changes passed out of the state legislature in a decade.
The proposals would change the way teachers’ contracts and raises are negotiated, make class sizes larger, high school graduation tougher and send more state money to private schools.
The chamber finished with the most controversial measure of all – SB 6 – that would tie teacher pay and job security with how well students perform on tests. Angry teachers, parents and students overwhelmed lawmakers with telephone calls and e-mails objecting to the bill. House Speaker Larry Cretul forbade Democrats from reading any of the e-mails during debate on the bill that ran on until 2:30 this morning.
Read the full story here.
Tags: Charlie Crist, education, Florida House, schools, teacher pay, teachers
April 9th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Is anyone thinking ….vote these folks out of office in the next election….
April 10th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Education Reform?? Maybe not. Profit for certain individuals and IGNITE…possibly. The bill would REQUIRE each district to develop end-of-course exams for all subjects in all grades. REQUIRE learning gains to be based on these end-of-course exams. And now here comes the MOST IMPORTANT…REQUIRE THE DISTRICTS TO USE AT LEAST 5% OF THE FUNDING(TAXPAYER DOLLARS) TO IMPLEMENT END-OF-COURSE EXAMS. Sounds like this bill is all about profit for a few. Hmmmmmmmmmmm