Teacher pay bill on fast track in Legislature (FLORIDA next...)

Miami Herald ^ | March 8, 2011 | PATRICIA MAZZEI

[LibFreeUSA]

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida lawmakers’ push last year to overhaul how public school teachers are paid, evaluated, hired and fired prompted massive teacher protests, the swift use of then-Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto pen and a promise from opponents who said they would take their anger out on legislators at the polls in November.

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[Longbow1969]

“It’s definitely not as bad as last year’s bill,” said state Rep. Dwight Bullard, a South Miami-Dade Democrat and high school teacher who opposes the legislation. “But it’s still not a good bill.”

I'm disappointed then. It should be tougher than last years bill, not something teachers unions consider a better bill. We have a Republican Governor and overwhelming majorities in the state house, we should be using those margins to get seriously tough on these horrible unions.

[manc]

they had protests today all over the state and looking at their website it looks a big flop.
Yes they’;re saying we had 300 a drowned out the teabaggers or we got lots of honks and another post said we had a guy waving a red top from a building.

They call that victory,
Just over 6,000 members on their site for a state with a population of over 18 million.

LOL They really are deluded.

[manc]

another thing. They said they had 300 protesters in our back yard and the tea baggers had been bussed in and paid to protest. The same person who wrote it must have missed the union bus parked in the background at her protest LOL. To top it off they had to have protests outside colleges or near them in many places to get their numbers up too LOL

[seekthetruth]

Highlights of House Bill 7019 and Senate Bill 736:

HIGHLIGHT #1

Senate Bill 736 and House Bill 7019 will require school districts to base layoffs primarily on performance of teachers.

HIGHLIGHT #2

SB 736 and HB 7019 seek to implement a fair evaluation system that is neither arbitrary nor solely driven by test scores.

· Beginning in 2014, 50% of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on three years of student progress and 50% will be based on multiple assessments of the educator’s teaching methods.

· For principal and administrator evaluations, 50% will be based on how well the whole student body progresses over three years, and the rest will address how well administrators marshal existing resources and staff to support students’ academic success.

HIGHLIGHT #3

Under SB 736 and HB 7019, teachers hired after July, 2014 and teachers who opt-in will be paid based on effectiveness. 50%-75% of the money available each year for raises will go to Florida teachers who are deemed “highly effective” or “effective.”

HIGHLIGHT #4

Senate Bill 736 and House bill HB 7019 do not eliminate tenure for existing teachers, but will remove it for new teachers hired after July, 2011

As a retired public school teacher of 43 years, I will be testifying at the House hearing on Thursday and will be speaking in support of HB 7019. :)

[ghostrider]

Politicians are like magicians. It is all about distractions and illusions. Some government workers are clearly choking the system with their greed. Federal workers, California workers, New York & Wisconsin workers and all workers with strong active unions clearly are choking the system. But the lowest paid and lowest worker cost per state population is in Florida. They are in no way choking the system. Jeb Bush saw to that. The Republican Magicians in Florida are using the State Budget as an illusion to cut corporate taxes in a State that already is at or near the bottom in corporate taxes. The Democratic Magicians are making a loud fuss with there eye not on the budget, but on the 2012 elections. Florida is a tossup state for Obama. It won't matter how much Obama is disliked and suspected of all sorts of stuff, if the Republicans can be shown to be the “Tax Cutting Party of the Rich.” Even when there is an Obama Depression in progress, Obama can still win, because the “Greedy Rich” will be perceived to be gorging themselves while the masses are sucking air. The corrupt Obama machine siphoned trillions from the Taxpayers and got waxed in the 2010 elections. When the Republican Corporate machine contracts out Taxpayer dollars to their buddies, the Flim-Flam will be complete. The 2012 election will be antibody's guess when frustrated Taxpayers have only rotten choices to vote for.

[ken5050]

I forget..who’s Charlie Christ?

[Joe Boucher]

A spoksperson for the homosexual movement.