Calling the recently ended Legislature the “most anti-middle class” in state history, ‘Awake the State’ organizers have lined up rallies in two-dozen cities later this afternoon.

Similar demonstrations were held when the Legislature opened in March.

 But now that lawmakers have OK’d 3 percent pay cuts for teachers, law enforcement and other government workers in the Florida Retirement System, eliminated teacher tenure, and toughened abortion and elections laws, some organizers said the crowd opposing Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature is getting more diverse.

“I’ve done a lot of organizing, but I’ve never had police officers on my side until now,” said Stephanie Porta, from Orlando, an activist with Organize Now, a social justice group. “Rick Scott has been our Number 1 recruiter.”

The Palm Beach County rally is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the South County Civic Center on Jog Road, west of Delray Beach.

When the House and Senate approved separate budget proposals earlier this month which slashed public school spending by at least $1 billion, lawmakers said they were intent on boosting those dollars before session’s ends.

But wishes met reality Thursday night when school budget negotiators met for the first time and the bottom-line cut mushroomed to $1.3 billion. Per-student funding would drop an average $540 — to $6,269, a deeper reduction than earlier proposed.

Senate schools budget chief David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said the overall cut includes an $859 million reduction stemming from the demand by lawmakers that 655,000 government workers in the Florida Retirement System, most of whom are teachers, contribute 3 percent of their pay to their pensions.

The $859 million represents a savings for school districts, which formerly paid the entire FRS share. Schools also retain $554.8 million in federal stimulus reserves distributed last fall, said Simmons, who refuted lingering pushback from educators who say it’s unfair to count that cash toward state funding.

“It’s all green money,” Simmons insisted. 

 By his calculus, schools are losing less than 1 percent of funding overall, Simmons said.

Negotiations are slated to renew tomorrow morning.

With the House and Senate poised to approve state budget proposals next week, $3.3 billion separates the two sides — along with a smattering of ideology.

Some Senate Republicans are wary of efforts to extract $1.1 billion of the state’s budget shortfall from teachers, police, firefighters and other government workers in the Florida Retirement System.

Viera Republican Sen. Thad Altman went so far as to call budget chief J.D. Alexander’s plan, which pivots on 3 percent pay contributions by FRS enrollees, a “huge, huge mistake.”

The House pulls $710 million from government workers in its pension proposal. But the Senate’s budget proposal still spends way more than the House.

If senators want to ease back from public employee cash, there’s not many more couch cushions or cookie jars for lawmakers to find money. But watch for some senators to float some alternatives – more cuts, and maybe even some fee and fine-hikes – in the coming week.

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.

Following the latest firefight between Democrats and Republicans, the GOP-dominated House OK’d legislation Friday that would bar state and local governments from collecting payroll deductions for union dues.

Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, in line to become House speaker in three years, if Republicans hold the majority, sponsored the measure (CS/HB 1021), which he said would keep the state out of “partisan politics.”

“There are other ways for unions to collect their dues that don’t involve state resources,” Dorworth said. On the Senate side, a former Florida Republican Party, Sen. John Thrasher, is sponsoring the measure.

The House approved the measure in a mostly party-line, 73-40 vote. The Senate bill (CS/SB 830) has at least one more committee stop before facing a full vote.

“Do not put lipstick on this elephant,” said Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, adding the measure, “is about silencing the voices of working men and women.”

The measure also allows public employee union members to demand a refund of dollars spent on any union political activity with which they didn’t agree.

Thrasher, who last year guided the state’s GOP to campaign victories that tightened the party’s grip on power in Florida, has said the measure is designed to “empower unions” by making them collect their dues rather than the state. Automatic payroll deductions for union dues has been a common practice by state and local governments, including school boards, for decades.

Union representatives have said it is part of a national effort aimed at scuttling the political influence of teachers, police, firefighters and public employees’ organizations, which campaigned for Democrats last fall and are leading demonstrations against Republican policies this spring.

Unions, including the Florida Police Benevolent Association and Florida Education Association, poured millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns last fall.

Unlike Wisconsin and Ohio, where state capitals have been engulfed in opposition to efforts aimed at ending collective bargaining, union membership in Florida is voluntary.

The Florida Constitution shields workers from being forced to join a union. The constitution, though, also guarantees workers’ right to collective bargaining, a provision Republican Gov. Rick Scott last month said he would like to see repealed.

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.

Gov. Rick Scott rejected some GOP lawmakers proposal to phase-in a revamp of the state’s pension system.

Scott’s proposed having state workers kick in 5 percent of their salaries to their pension plans, splitting the 10 percent the state now pays for. That would amount to a 5 percent salary cut for the state’s public school employees, who make up nearly half of the Florida Retirement System.

Senate Education Appropriations Committee Chairman David Simmons said he wants to see the pension reform eased in over more than one year so that beginning teachers won’t get a pay cut while the state’s still struggling to come out of a recession.

Scott says nope.

“It’s only fair. The private sector, they fund their retirement benefits so the public sector ought to be doing the same thing,” Scott said. Asked if he was willing to negotiate on the phase-in, Scott’s response was terse: “No.”

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.

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The local chapter of the NAACP is holding a prayer vigil at the governor’s mansion Thursday night to encourage Gov. Charlie Crist to veto a controversial teacher pay bill.

Crist has until midnight Friday to act on the bill, and recently said the tremendous opposition to the measure (SB 6) has made a “fairly significant impression” on him.

State Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, is helping organize the vigil, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m. unless Crist takes action on the measure first.

NAACP Tallahassee chapter president Dale Landry said the bill will force teachers to kick poor-performing students out of their classes because their salaries will be tied to how well the children score on standardized tests.

“You’re talking about a person’s livelihood being tied to children” and factors outside the classroom over which teachers have no control, Landry said.

“To me that’s criminal,” he said.

Gov. Charlie Crist said he’s being leaned on more heavily about the sweeping teacher pay reforms now on his desk or veto than on any other issue since he took office three years ago.

But caught in the hallway on his way out of the Capitol this afternoon, House Speaker Larry Cretul didn’t have much to say about the measure (SB 6).

When asked what he would tell the governor to try to convince him to sign it into law, Cretul said simply: “It’s a good bill.”

That’s it?

“Yes it is. Sixty-six people thought it was a good bill,” Cretul said.

Oops. Democratic members nearby corrected the leader. The final vote was 64-55.

“Well, I’m working it,” Cretul said.

Maybe the Ocala Republican was more tired than taciturn.

Cretul was at the podium through much of the eight-hour debate on the measure that dragged on until just before 2:30 a.m. this morning.

Gov. Charlie Crist has a week to decide if the controversial teacher merit pay bill is a “sucker-punch to the gut of the teaching profession” or a visionary reform now that SB 6 has reached his desk.

The “teacher tenure” bill poses a conundrum for the U.S. Senate candidate framed in the old Pete Seeger union song, Which Side Are You On?

The self-described “People’s Governor” is facing mounting pressure from fellow Republicans to sign SB 6 into law and from Democrats demanding that he kill the bill.

Crist originally said he thought the merit-pay proposal was a good idea. But after tens of thousands of teachers, parents and students inundated lawmakers’ offices and his own with phone calls and e-mails blasting the plan, his enthusiasm may be waning.

“The more you listen, the more you learn,” Crist told reporters Thursday morning. “There are things I like and things that give me some concern,” in the bill. “I’m listening to the people of Florida — my boss.”

After the House passed the bill at 2:30 this morning, Speaker Larry Cretul urged the governor to keep his word.

“I believe we have passed legislation this morning that is important,” Cretul, R-Ocala, said. “It is legislation I believe the governor should want to sign. I take him at his word that he will.”

But even before the measure reached Crist’s desk shortly after noon today, Democrats ramped up demands that Crist to put his red pen to use.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat running to replace Crist, called on the governor to “stand with the people of Florida against this attempt by Tallahassee politicians to take control away from our local schools.”

Her campaign this morning launched an online petition for Floridians to sign to request the veto.

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson said in a statement “our governor needs to stand his ground” and veto the bill Lawson called a “sucker-punch to the gut of the teaching profession.”

Read the full story here.

After 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.

So many angry teachers called House Speaker Larry Cretul’s office late last week his staff had to add four additional telephone lines and four workers to field the complaints, Cretul spokeswoman Jill Chamberlin said.

The Speaker’s office received more than 5,500 phone calls on Thursday and Friday about SB 6, the measure approved by the Senate last week that would revamp teacher salaries and job security by basing educators’ pay on how well their students perform on standardized tests.

Most of the calls objected to the proposal, Chamberlin said.

“It’s hard to generalize, but many people did not seem to know what the bill does (they thought it would reduce current teacher pay—it won’t) (they thought it would affect current teacher retirement and benefits—it won’t, etc.) and many thought we were taking a poll (which we were not.) It is certainly possible that some people didn’t get through or got voice mail—considering the volume,” Chamberlin said in an e-mail.

Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill McCollum blamed the teachers’ union for Florida’s failure to win out on the first round of federal “Race to the Top” education funds.

The Florida Education Association, that opposed the stimulus funds, is “now responsible for the loss of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for Sunshine State students, teachers and schools,” McCollum campaign manager Matt Williams said in a press release.

“Today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that Florida was not selected as a first round winner of the Race to the Top competition is a disappointing reminder the unions will continue to put the interests of bureaucracy over the best interests of Florida’s children,” Williams accuses.

Sen. John Thrasher, who also serves as the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, joined in the teacher-bashing chorus although Gov. Charlie Crist said he remained hopeful that the state could ultimately win some of the $4 billion in federal funds.

Hundreds of thousands of Florida workers – including teachers and cops – say they are under assault by lawmakers using the state’s flopping finances as a way to bust up the unions.

Measures that would cut salaries, do away with teacher tenure and impose pension reductions are speeding through the legislature this session.

“The legislature’s taking advantage of the bad economy to force their opinions of anti-unionism down the throats of the rest of the people. If they had their way, we’d be working weekends, and there would be 13-year-olds on the production lines,” said Paul Brewer, a Department of Transportation printer who is head of his local union comprised mainly of blue-collar workers in Tallahassee.

Read the full story here.

The Senate passed a measure that would have a far-reaching impact on teachers’ salaries and job security after a heated debate by Democratic opponents and an angry defense of the bill by Republicans.

Four Republicans – Sens. Charlie Dean of Inverness, Paula Dockery of Lakeland, Dennis Jones of Seminole and Alex Villalobos of Miami – joined Democrats on the losing side of the 21-17 vote.

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