Scott signs Florida teacher pay, tenure bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Far-reaching but divisive legislation that creates a merit pay plan tied to student test scores for Florida teachers while ending tenure for new hires became law Thursday with Gov. Rick Scott's signature.

The new Republican governor went to a publicly funded but privately operated charter school in Jacksonville to sign his first bill (SB 736).

Former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar but more rigid bill last year after widespread protests by teachers and other opponents including many local school officials. Crist's veto angered fellow Republicans and he subsequently left the party to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an independent.

Republicans say a test-based merit pay plan will help attract and keep top teachers while eliminating tenure will enable school officials to get rid of the bad ones more quickly.

"We must recruit and retain the best people to make sure every classroom in Florida has a highly effective teacher," Scott said in a statement.

Many teachers and their unions remain opposed to the legislation that also chips away at teachers' due process and collective bargaining rights.

School Choice Expansion Clears House Committee

Redefining 'failed schools' also allows parents to avoid them

The House K-20 Innovation Subcommittee met Tuesday and forwarded a school choice measure that increases options and flexibility for parents looking to pull their children out of failing schools under the Opportunity Scholarship Program.

The measure, HB 1331, would allow parents to remove their children from failing schools and place them into better public schools anywhere in the state, as opposed to ones within the same district or in neighboring ones.

The bill also changes the definition of a failed school. Currently under the "Florida School Grades" maintained by the state Department of Education, if a school receives two "F" grades in a four-year period, the school is considered to be failing. Under HB 1331, the definition would change, making failing schools those that receive two "D" grades during the four-year window or one "F" grade in a two-year period.

With the chief sponsor of the measure, freshman Rep. Michael Bileca, R-West Miami, unable to attend due to a family emergency, the chairwoman of the subcommittee, Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, allowed Bileca's aide, Alex Garcia, to present the bill.

Democrats on the committee had various questions regarding transportation costs and the impact of the class-size amendment, but offered no resistance to the bill.

Continue reading this Sunshine State News Article here

BY BRENT KALLESTAD

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida education commissioner Eric Smith is leaving that post in June, saying he wants to give new Gov. Rick Scott a say in a successor who will pursue his goals.

But the chairman of the State Board of Education, T. Willard Fair of Miami, said Monday he wants Smith to change his mind.

"There is nothing that anybody can tell me that would make me accept his resignation," Fair told The Associated Press. "There is too much at stake for me to be that selfish."

In a release from his office earlier Monday, Smith said he told members of the board about his plans to resign effective June 10, which is the final day of the current school year. The board, the members of which are appointed by the governor, makes the hiring and firing decisions on the education commissioner.

"Commissioner Smith had to do what he thought was best, and he is very respectful of Gov. Scott and the new governor's desire to have his leaders in place," said board member Mark Kaplan, adding that he hadn't seen any rift between the governor and Smith on education issues.

"I think they are both very forward-looking," Kaplan said.

Smith served during a tumultuous time in Florida education, with budgets already being cut when he took over in October 2007 and lawmakers challenging teacher tenure while promoting merit pay and relaxing classroom size standards.

The state's education commissioner heads the Department of Education, which oversees the state's public schools, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and community and state colleges.