Editor

Many educators across the state are on edge after the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 6 on March 24 and the House is set to consider the controversial legislation this week.

The House Education Policy Council Monday voted 12-5 for the bill. Critics say the legislation, House Bill 7189, if approved, would eliminate tenure for teachers. Proponents say the law would make successful teachers better paid and weed out ineffective ones.

The Senate passed the bill 21-17, with all 13 Democrats in the Senate and four Republicans voting against it. Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who represents a portion of Osceola County, opposed the bill while Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, voted for it. Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, was excused from the vote.

The Florida Education Association on its Web site lays out its opposition to the legislation, saying it would:

Dockery in a press release, characterized Senate Bill 6 as a “Tallahassee power grab.”

“Sponsors want to take local control of teacher evaluations, salaries and budgets away from Florida’s 67 elected school boards and give it to a Tallahassee bureaucracy,” stated Dockery, who is running for governor. “This violates Florida constitutional protections of local control for local schools.”

Dockery said serious questions remain over how the public would pay for the new state program, which requires the Florida Department of Education to hold back 5 percent of a local school district’s funding every year.

“To avoid classroom cuts, school districts will have no option but to raise local taxes,” Dockery stated. “Classroom funding should not be used to grow a new and bigger Tallahassee bureaucracy on the backs of taxpayers.”

The legislator also said the bill makes it nearly impossible for someone not currently teaching to renew a teaching certificate.

“Teachers will not be able to return to work after raising their children. They will have their certifications threatened if they are activated for military duty, or otherwise unavailable to teach, for longer than one school year. And if a teacher can't show yet-to-be-defined ‘learning gains’ for four out of five consecutive years, the teacher will lose his or her license and ability to make a living,” Dockery stated.

The legislator also said it is not clear what learning gains will include or how they will be measured.

Dockery also said the bill puts all responsibility for student performance on teachers, failing to hold parents or students personally responsible for their own roles in the education process.

“What if kids don’t come to school willing or able to learn? What if they don’t come to school at all? Teachers face all penalties without regard to factors outside of their control or influence,” Dockery stated.

State Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, on Monday in an e-mail said he supports the changes proposed in SB 6 that will be embodied in House Bill 7189.

Kathy Donato, president of the Osceola Classroom Teachers Association, in an e-mail stated the bill removes all local control of schools.

“The belief that the citizens, the local school board and teachers of Osceola County do not know what is best for their children is disheartening to our association,” Donato said.

“Florida already has a differentiated pay system that pays teachers in challenged schools more. Florida statute already requires that performance data be part of every teacher’s evaluation. The bill says that all teachers could lose their professional license if their students don’t test well based on a learning gains model that hasn’t been validated, piloted, or created. Our students are more than test scores.”

At 5 p.m. Tuesday the association will hold a rally at the Silver Spurs Arena in support of “maintaining local public education.”