VIDEO: Teachers pack Florida House hearing on merit pay proposal
by Michael C. Bender | April 5th, 2010UPDATE: Republicans voted down all nine Democratic amendments, most along party lines. Rep. Faye Culp, R-Tampa, joined Democrats on two amendments that would have let districts base pay raises on advanced degrees and length of service.
For background, here’s our story after the merit pay proposal passed the Florida Senate last month.
Tags: merit pay
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April 5th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Let’s have merit pay for Legislators.
Require Florida Legislators to pass the FCAT
April 5th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
NYTimes ran a story this morning reporting the Education Commissioner, Eric Smith, reported that the state of Florida will apply for RTTT money in September, despite the amount reduction. The SB/6 HB7189 bills are tied to the requirements needed to win the Gates money. Florida teachers are being thrown under a train for $266 dollars per student/ RTTT money.
The bill will pass irregardless of the will of the people of Florida and the needs of the children.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
The link for the NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/education/05top.html?hp
April 5th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
“RTTT”! Exactly what are we racing for? Will this bill help make the parents accountable for their child’s actions? Will this money help make sure the kids are all capable of learning at a top level? Is this money going to make parents sit and work with their children each night so their teachers can keep their jobs? What about the kids with “ADD”? What about the Handicap children? What about the Crack Babies?
There are so many things that are not within the teachers control but yet we are racing for a bill that will cause major turmoil in the schools. If you thought the Jeffrey Hernandez fiasco was something, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Parents- Do you really want your child being graded by test scores only? Here we go again!! It’s time for America to wake up, take responsibility, make sure your child gets 8-10 hours sleep, make sure they are fed properly, give them appropiate support at home with their homework, communicate with their teacher’s, show up for Parent-Teacher Conferences, etc. If you want to write a bill that will change things, write a bill that will hold parents accountable for their children’s actions until they turn 18. Let’s keep the raising of our children where it belongs, at home. Teachers cannot teach unless the parents are on the same team.
Atwater, Christ, Obama- It’s time to take off the suits and walk in the teachers shoes for 30 days and really learn what it will take to make a difference.
SB6 is not the answer as they will clearly hear from the teachers and the unions this week. Put this on the ballot and let the public vote for it and see if it passes. No more Obamaism! (Socialism) Our country is being ruled by dictators and it is time that we take it back over.
Fight for our rights, our children, our schools, our teachers and make sure SB6 DOES NOT PASS!
April 6th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Pay based on performance is what made the coutnry great. Get unions and the government invloved and you get Detroit. Wake up America we need term limits for our representatives and NO tenier for mediocre teachers.
April 6th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I was under the impression that in this Great Country our legislators were elected to carry out the will of the people. Seems this has been forgotten.
Should we also dismiss other professionals such as doctors, lawyers, judges, etc without cause during their first year? I see no benefit from this plan of merit pay for teachers. _FOLLOW THE MONEY…WHO WILL GAIN FROM THE 18 BILLION DOLLAR EXPENDITURE OF TAX PAYERS DOLLARS TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNFAIR AND UNNECESSARY PLAN?? ONCE THAT IS DISCLOSED WE MAY UNDERSTAND WHY THE POLITICIANS ARE PASSING THIS AT BREAK NECK SPEED. THE MEDIA NEEDS TO FOLLOW THAT TRAIL. PLEASE LIST THOSE POLITICIANS WHO VOTED FOR THIS AND REMEMBER THEM COME NEXT ELECTION…THEY TOO CAN BE DISMISSED.
April 6th, 2010 at 11:14 am
As an outsider looking in, and as a consultant on the innovative and transformative technology and infrastructure models presenting in this environment it is perplexing that teachers boasting about their credentials and teaching ability are threatening to move out of Florida. (comments on PBPost Article http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/teachers-union-calls-merit-pay-plan-passed-by-441558.html)
This bill represents the change that is needed within our educational system in order to teach, assess, report, diagnose and prescribe best practices solutions to traditional, antiquated and flawed educational system processes both in the classroom and at home.
Teachers naturally feel threatened because they only see the negative behind the Bill as it relates to inherent problems that teachers currently face on a daily basis.
The teacher employer group, along with unions and associations, are tasked to take full advantage of this Bill, the FDOE Budget and the additional RTTT monies that Florida will receive (Florida ranked #4 out of 41 states in Phase I RTTT, but did not receive funding, but will sureley receive around $700M in Phase II RTTT funding).
These monies are going to be used to support good teachers, not get them fired. The teaching “business” is going to be transformed and along with this transformation will come sustainable opportunity, base pay and additional recurring revenue.
I would applaud any teacher, administrator or parent who has read the 2010 DOE Technology Plan and the RTTT Executive Summary, put 2 + 2 together (no ‘articulation’ intended), and would embrace the business, educational, workforce and social entrepreneurship collaboratives that will be borne from education and asset-based community development models and become leaders in this transformation process.
April 6th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
So parents unload their undisciplined children on the teachers and it’s the teachers fault they don’t care if they learn or not. I think this bill stinks. Start putting responsibility on the parents.
April 8th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Mr Bowman,
If you are such an expert on education where is the research showing that testing on this grand scale is reliable enough to fairly evaluate teachers. The research I see says just the opposite. Accountability is good but the evaluations need to be fair and accurate and this bill produces mechanisms for neither, plus it is an unfunded mandate for school districts to produce thousands of new assessments. Good for the lobbying clients and relatives of Thrasher and Bush, bad for our children and their parents. Any parent or teacher can tell you what high stakes testing has done to education and to our children. This bill will produce “FCAT on Steroids”. If its so great for good teachers where are the top teachers coming out and advocating for it? They along with superintendents, school board members and the PTO are all working against it. Thrashers own hometown superintendent who just won a prestigious award, was never consulted along with his local school board and school leaders around the state. None of us had a place at the table and we are the experts. And we all want accountability and better schools but this bill is obviously not about that.
NBCT, MA Ed-Tech (not that it matters)