The Florida Education Association sued Wednesday to overturn the new state law that ends teacher tenure and introduces merit pay based in large part on how students perform on standardized tests.
The state’s largest teachers’ union said the measure — approved by the Republican-ruled Legislature and the first bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott — violates constitutional collective bargaining guarantees. Employment terms are to be decided by negotiations between teachers and school districts — not by state lawmakers, said Ron Meyer, attorney for the FEA, which filed the suit on behalf of six school teachers.
“It strains credulity that people in Tallahassee, over in the Capitol, know better than the people on the ground,” Meyer said.
Andy Ford, FEA president, said the new standard — approved in a mostly party-line vote, with legislative Democrats opposed — “totally changed the teaching profession in Florida.”
“It denies teachers the constitutional right to collective bargaining,” Ford said.
The merit pay legislation requires that 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation be based on student achievement on tests — including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and other standardized exams, most of which must still be developed by state and local educators.
Under the bill, current teachers would retain existing pay schedules and contracts — even those spanning multi-years. They could lose their jobs, though, if they drew two subpar annual evaluations within three years.
Teachers hired after July 1, however, are limited to one-year contracts and would draw raises only if rated “effective” or “highly effective.”
Former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill last year. But during last fall’s governor’s race, Scott made ending teacher tenure and enacting merit pay a central portion of his campaign, with the FEA throwing in heavily behind Democrat Alex Sink.
After months of promising action, the state’s largest teachers’ union looks ready to bring Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature to court in an attempt to overturn a measure that creates a new merit pay standard and ends teacher tenure.
The legislation (CS/SB 736) was the first bill signed into law this spring by Scott. But it also marked was the culmination of a increasingly bitter clash between Florida Republicans and the Democratic-allied Florida Education Association, a struggle whose roots are deep.
FEA President Andy Ford and other leaders of the teachers’ group plan to outline the lawsuit they plan to file during a news conference and media call tomorrow.
The merit pay legislation requires that 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation be based on student achievement on tests — including the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and other standardized exams, most of which must still be developed by state and local educators.
Under the bill, current teachers would retain existing pay schedules and contracts — even those spanning multi-years. They could lose their jobs, though, if they drew two subpar annual evaluations within three years.
Teachers hired after July 1, however, are limited to one-year contracts and would draw raises only if rated “effective” or “highly effective.”
Former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill last year. But during last fall’s governor’s race, Scott made ending teacher tenure and enacting merit pay a central portion of his campaign, with the FEA throwing in heavily behind Democrat Alex Sink.
The FEA is already squared off against the Legislature, having earlier this summer sued to overturn a proposed constitutional amendment put on next year’s ballot to lift the state’s more than century-old prohibition on tax dollars flowing to religious institutions.
Gov. Rick Scott reenacted Friday his signing into law legislation restricting teacher tenure and introducing merit pay — steps fiercely fought by the state’s teachers’ union.
“The big winner here is all our kids,” Scott assured in a brief ceremony at the Capitol, flanked by House and Senate sponsors of the measure, approved last week by the Republican-ruled Legislature.
It’s the first state law enacted by the rookie governor. “Good start, governor,” shouted Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, after Scott put down his pen.
Scott formally signed the legislation Thursday at a Jacksonville school, capping a long political march by Republican leaders. Florida GOP lawmakers have been pushing back against the Florida Education Association for years and got close last year to enacting the merit pay bill – only to have then-Gov. Charlie Crist veto it.
Scott indicated Friday that he’s got plenty more to change in Florida schools.
“We’ve got to get charter schools expanded, we’ve go to give our public schools the opportunity to be run by third parties and be way more innovative,” said Scott — who declined to take questions following the ceremony.
Outnumbered House Democrats sought to punch holes Tuesday in a sweeping plan pushed by ruling Republicans, which eliminates public school tenure and ties teacher pay to student performance.
With the House set to vote today on the measure already approved by the Senate, Democrats grilled House sponsor Erik Fresen, R-Miami, about the legislation (SB 736), which critics say is designed to punish a state’s teachers union that historically has poured millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns.
Fresen defended the measure, downplaying the politics and saying it will assure that Florida rewards the best teachers by giving them incentives to help students achieve.
“There’s nothing in this bill that micromanages how teaching is done,” said Fresen, chairman of the K-20 Competitiveness subcommittee. “It simply deals with contracts, evaluations and salary schedules.”
The Florida Senate approved legislation Thursday that would end tenure and tie teacher pay to student performance — the latest round in a long clash between Republican lawmakers and the state teachers union.
The 26-12 vote split on party lines, with Democrats opposed.
Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, was the lone Democrat to crossover and support the measure; Republican Sens. Dennis Jones of Seminole and Paula Dockery of Lakeland joined Democratic opponents.
The measure (CS/SB 736) is similar to legislation that convulsed Florida last spring, before then-Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it following demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns by the Florida Education Association.
Crist broke with the Republican Party following his veto; and the FEA endorsed Democrat Alex Sink over the GOP’s Rick Scott in last fall’s governor’s race.
Scott campaigned in favor of the legislation.
“This bill ought to be a teacher’s dream – to be paid for a student’s success,” said Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, sponsor of the bill.
“This is America. People have every right to protest, positively or negatively. I think it’s exciting that people are taking such an interest in their government and they want to be vocal about where they stand,” the Merritt Island Republican, running for U.S. Senate, said. “If there are protests on either side, welcome to America.”
Asked if the protests might reach the heated level as Wisconsin, where union activists have camped out for weeks in the Capitol, Haridopolos shrugged.
“It might happen. If I was a protester and I had the choice of going to Wisconsin or Florida, I’d probably come here too,” he quipped.
Above is the television ad from the Florida Education Association thanking Gov. Charlie Crist for vetoing the controversial teacher tenure bill last week. It sounds like this version is on the air in the Tallahassee market and something similar will be up soon across the state.
Meanwhile, we were leaked part of a recent poll from Hamilton Campaigns that asked 700 likely Florida voters these questions:
Florida Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher and Gov. Charlie Crist exchange a glance on Wednesday. Michael C. Bender/The Palm Beach Post
While Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto on Thursday was a clear end for this year’s teacher bill, it made his own political future increasingly cloudy.
Many Republicans said the veto wiped out not just the bill, but any chance Crist had at catching his U.S. Senate rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, in the Republican primary. This theory gave new life to rumors Crist would drop his primary bid and run as an independent.
Others said it could provide Crist the spark he’s needed since Rubio overtook him in the polls in December.
That’s the decision today from Charlie Crist on what he called the most controversial issue in his two decades in public office.
“We must start over,” Crist said. “This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, our parents and our students. They are not confident in our system because they do not believe that their voices were heard.
Crist said he found little in the bill – or how Republican leaders “rushed” it through the process – to support.
He compared it to the federal health care changes, which he and other Republican leaders had criticized as a hasty attempt from Democrats to flex their political muscle in Washington.
“About a month later after that happens, the very same thing happens here in education. It’s the wrong process,” Crist said.
Sen. Alex Villalobos, the Republican Rules Committee chairman, joined a slew of Democratic lawmakers urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the contentious teacher pay bill.
But Villalobos used a different tack to persuade the governor, who has until midnight Friday to act on the measure (SB 6): it’s a “constitutional mess.”
Villalobos argued in a letter to Crist sent Tuesday that the bill that virtually eliminates job security for teachers and bases their salary increases on how well their students perform on standardized tests poses a host of potential constitutional problems.
File this under Educated Guesses, but it increasingly sounds like Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision on the controversial teacher bill could be Thursday in Tallahassee. He has until Friday, but he’s still scheduled to be in Miami that day.
“It’d be Thursday at the earliest,” Crist said tonight.
Crist also said he would probably hold a public event in Tallahassee to announce his decision, whether it’s to sign the bill or veto it. A public veto — if that’s his decision — would be a rare event at the Capitol…
“That may require some change in the schedule to accommodate that,” he said of a possible event. “But there’s nothing more important right now. So whatever else may be in the queue, this is priority one.”
Asked what he’s still weighing, Crist said he was still concerned that special-needs teachers might not be treated fairly under the bill and had constitutional questions about how much the state Department of Education can impose on school districts. On the plus side, he said he still favors merit pay for teachers and likes that the bill increases “accountability.”
“I’m never not thinking about it lately,” he said.
Supporters of the controversial bill to overhaul how teacher contracts and salaries are negotiated attempted to win back Gov. Charlie Crist’s support with a press conference this morning where they insisted the changes would make Florida a world leader in education.
“The Senate Bill 6 is about rewarding high quality teachers, paying them more, getting better teachers into our low income schools and making sure every single child has a high quality teacher in the classroom,” Foundation for Florida’s Future President Patricia Levesque said. “We’re thankful that Gov. Crist has supported these issues in the past and we’re really looking forward to his support this week.”
Levesque and others dismissed the outcry from the education community, saying teachers have been ginned up by a union campaign of misinformation.
“I’m frankly a little surprised that out of about 144,000 union members that there’s only about 30,000 that are up in arms about this,” Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson said. “What’s happening is they’re getting e-mails, they’re getting phone calls, they’re getting rhetoric about what this bill does not do.”
Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith and state Public Schools Chancellor Frances Haithcock were supposed to join supporters of the bill. But both were last-minute scratches when Crist’s staff asked for meeting to go over the bill again. With Crist seemingly leaning toward a veto, the timing of the meeting was interesting.
Not much new this morning from Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who met with reporters before the twice-a-month Cabinet meeting. But with all the interest in the issue, you can watch the entire six-minute press conference above.
During the briefing, Crist said he did not promise Sen. John Thrasher, the Republican Party chairman sponsoring the bill, that he’d sign the controversial teacher legislation. Crist said that yesterday, as we reported here and here.
Crist said he still hasn’t made his decision yet on whether to sign or veto the bill — he has until Friday — and implied that he favors accountability more than eliminating teacher tenure.
He also said that former Gov. Jeb Bush left him a voicemail asking him to sign the bill.
“Shocking,” Crist laughed.
No, it wasn’t a robo-call. But Bush’s education group is also airing an ad asking people to call Crist and urge him to sign the bill.
Looks like the Foundation for Florida’s Future — former Gov. Jeb Bushs education group — has modified their original television ad to include fellow Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s phone number and e-mail. Bush and his group are big supporters‘ of the bill that Crist might veto this week.
Miami high school student Michelle Ruiz tells Gov. Charlie Crist today why he should veto a controversial bill to overhaul the way teacher contracts and raises are negotiated. Bender/Post
Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is hearing from opponents of the proposal to end teacher tenure everywhere he goes. Even tonight at a children’s advocacy dinner, a Miami high school senior ran up to Crist.
“I know I want to be a chemical engineer because of my chemistry teacher,” said Michelle Ruiz, who is heading to Carnegie Melon next year. “He’s so passionate about what he teaches and it’s because he loves it. And it’s because he’s not stressed out about all these different situations.”
The conversation was about 10 minutes long. That’s about 10 minutes longer than Republican legislative leaders have spent with Crist since the controversial bill passed Friday morning.
“The more you hear, the more of an impression it makes,” Crist said after talking with Ruiz. “I’m a human being. It continues to make a fairly significant impression.
“If I hadn’t waited and had a predisposition before today, I wouldn’t have heard from her. And if I had gone the other way, shame on me. Let all the jury speak. Let all the voices be heard.”
Here’s a new story about Crist’s dilemma. And keep reading for more from Crist
A week really is a lifetime in Florida politics right now.
But as of this moment, tentative plans are for Gov. Charlie Crist to be in Miami on Friday when the clock runs out on his deliberations over the controversial teacher merit pay bill that lawmakers delivered to him Friday.
Crist is certainly capable of announcing his decision at any point before then, but how memorable would it be if he waited to veto the bill until he arrived in the hometown of Jeb Bush (and Marco Rubio, for that matter), who has been pushing for the legislation and against Crist’s Senate campaign for some time?
Then again, maybe Bush and Rubio would attend the bill signing if Crist goes that route…
In the meantime, the issue is getting Crist some serious face time on Central Florida TV. Maybe all of these TV crews show up anyway for the groundbreaking ceremony in Tampa on Friday or to The Villages on Saturday for his U.S. Senate campaign rally. But maybe not.
If you watch any of the videos after the jump, check out the last one. It has some pretty striking footage of Panhandle teachers giving the business to Rep. Dave Murzin, R-Pensacola, for supporting the bill. This might be evidence that Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, wasn’t kidding around when he said at 1:16 a.m. on Friday that the bill would spark the “TEA-chers Party.”
Democrats don’t have the votes to defeat the controversial teacher pay bill. But they do have 15 minutes each to speak, under House rules.
That suddenly questionable rule has resulted in a late night in the chamber, which, at this point (especially since my video camera unfortunately died hours ago), demands a running diary…
That’s the take from Republican Rep. Faye Culp, a former teacher from Tampa who is about to complete her 12th year in the legisalture. Culp opposes a proposal up for a vote tonight to base teacher raises on student performance. Culp says teachers should also get raises for earning advanced degrees.
CULP: It takes a lot of nerve to go up against leadership right now.
More than in previous years?
CULP: Probably. There’s just an awful lot of pressure from senators over there [motions to Senate side of building] and the leadership in the House to get this bill passed. But there’s a lot of pressure from people all over the state to not pass it. So, we’ll see. I don’t know what the final vote will be. There are several of us who are going to stick together and vote ‘No’ on it.
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