Fla. May Tie Teacher Pay to Student Scores
The Florida legislature is set to approve a bill that would link the pay of new teachers to student performance starting in 2014 and allow school boards to fire teachers more easily for mediocre results, the New York Times reports. Similar legislation was vetoed last year by the former governor, who considered it too extreme. Gov. Rick Scott is expected to approve this slightly gentler version, which would shake up a system of pay and tenure that has existed for decades while putting Florida in the lead among states taking on teachers’ unions.
Supporters say it will make it easier to reward and promote the state’s best teachers, not by their longevity, but by their work in the classroom. This, they say, will ensure that the lowest-performing schools can lure more effective teachers. “If you look across the board, one thing that is consistent is that teacher effectiveness is the most influential variable in a student’s learning,” said Representative Erik Fresen, a Miami Republican. “Teaching is disconnected from any other profession in the world. Every profession that I know has some effectiveness input in terms of a salary increase and whether you get promoted or get paid less or paid more.”
Teachers’ unions opposed the legislation last year and say the current proposal will only demoralize a work force already battered by ever-shrinking resources and other demands. “We are under siege by our own Legislature,” said Robert Dow, the president of the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association. “People are extremely depressed. People are seeing this coming like a freight train, and no matter what you say, you can’t stop it.”
If passed, the measure would mean that students’ performance on state assessments would count for half of a new teacher’s evaluation beginning in 2014. The other half would rest with the principal. Those evaluations would lead to yearly raises or dismissals, if poor ratings continued three to five years. Tenured teachers can opt into the merit pay system, if they choose, but they would face the possibility of dismissal because of unsatisfactory evaluations regardless.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Teachers
