“I congratulate Florida’s teachers, parents and students for making our voices heard! Governor Crist just “used his pen” to veto SB 6!!!!!”
- Loranne Ausley

Gov. Crist vetoes teacher tenure bill

By Hannah Sampson, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — After weeks of protest and a deluge of messages, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday vetoed a bill that would link teacher pay to student test scores and wipe out tenure for new teachers.

His decision, announced in a noon news conference at the Capitol, came as little surprise. Although Crist initially voiced support for Senate Bill 6, he had distanced himself over the past week as protests mounted.

“We must start over,” Crist said.

Crist explained that the content of the bill and “manner of its adoption” was “significantly flawed.”

“To make such changes, we must have the patience and the wisdom to communicate effectively with the people,” he said.

With just a little over two weeks left in the session, many educators and politicians have expressed doubt the Legislature can rewrite the bill and get it passed.

The Florida Senate passed the bill 21-17; it got through the House of Representatives by a 64-55 vote. The bill had strong support among Republican Party leadership, but some in the GOP joined Democrats in opposition.

Crist, a Republican, has been inundated with messages about the bill, receiving more than 109,000. Though about 49,000 were still unread, almost 58,000 of the messages that had been logged were against the bill.

He had frequently said that he wanted to take his time to hear from his “bosses,” the people of Florida, as he made up his mind.

Under the bill, half of a teacher’s evaluation would depend on what kind of learning gains their students made. Those evaluations would determine their pay. New teachers would have been hired on annual contracts with no chance of tenure.

With a tough economy, even established candidates struggle to raise needed resources. Despite my late start in the race, our campaign will post one of the strongest first quarters for an open seat statewide race in Florida’s history. With your help we had a tremendous first quarter of fundraising and will report nearly $350,000 on hand.

Thank you.

I am most proud of the fact that our fundraising efforts came from ordinary people across the state. This grassroots support has allowed our campaign to capture the early momentum – and we are doubling our efforts as we begin an even stronger effort in the second quarter.

As CFO, I will stand up for everyday Floridians as a responsible steward of your tax dollars by holding our government accountable and by keeping the insurance industry from running roughshod over consumers. I will always stand strong for Floridians in making sure that we are investing our scarce resources in the things that matter – our kids and our future.

As our momentum grows your continued support is critical.

Dear Friends,

Last month we called on your support to help us defeat a very bad bill (SB 6) that will punish teachers, strip funding from our schools and do nothing — not one thing — to improve schools in Florida.

I am pleased to report that since our call to action and our marches alongside teachers in Tallahassee, a number of others have joined in that call and are now asking our governor to use his veto pen as it was intended…as a strike against extremism and as a check on what can only be called an outlandish abuse of power.

Will you stand with us and join the growing chorus of opposition?

Click here now to send an email and find out how you can add your voice to those who believe that our teachers should not be used on the front lines of ultra-partisanship and our children should not be victimized for political points.

Thank you,

Loranne Ausley

By Jac Wilder Versteeg, Palm Beach Post

Well, teachers, now what?

The Legislature has stuck its thumb in your eye, passing an oppressive merit pay plan. Starting in 2014, if Gov. Crist signs the bill, you will be evaluated based on end-of-course tests that haven’t been invented. Starting July 1, new teachers can’t get tenure. Teachers with tenure also are vulnerable. They’ll need good evaluations to renew teaching certificates. As with new teachers, their evaluations will be based on end-of-course tests, whose use and validity will depend on the same bunch that exalted the FCAT.

So, what can you do to show your displeasure?

Politicians who have made life tougher on teachers haven’t suffered. In 1999, then-Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature usurped the FCAT and turned it into a weapon to bludgeon teachers, administrators and students. Did Jeb pay? He did not. Not only was he reelected in 2002, he remains popular, and the Legislature is full of senators and representatives who sing hosannas to his “bold” educational “reforms.”

Realistically, teachers, you are not going to get all those Jeb acolytes tossed out of the Legislature. We’ve had a bunch of letters to the editor from teachers vowing never to vote for anyone who supported the new merit pay laws. Teachers who spoke at hearings on the new law promised the same thing. Legislators are not worried. Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, and Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine — prime movers of the House and Senate merit pay bills — have safe districts. What do they care about how teachers here and in the rest of the state vote?

To make a don’t-mess-with-us statement, teachers need a statewide race that involves a lawmaker whose support helped pass this bad merit pay bill. The gubernatorial race won’t do. Front-runners Alex Sink and Bill McCollum aren’t in the Legislature. Paula Dockery, challenging Attorney General McCollum in the Republican primary, voted against merit pay. But Democrats can’t vote in that primary, and the likely Democratic nominee, Chief Financial Officer Sink, opposed the bill.

The U.S. Senate race isn’t too good, either. Surprisingly, Gov. Crist said this week that he might veto merit pay. But his big challenge, against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, is in the GOP primary. Teachers registered as Democrats or Independents would have to re-register to be able to vote for Gov. Crist in that race. Those logistics are too complicated and unlikely.

Besides, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, was the force behind the class-size amendment when he was in the Legislature.

But there is one statewide race that lends itself to teacher retribution. Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is running to replace Ms. Sink as chief financial officer. As president, Sen. Atwater could have blocked merit pay. Instead, he backed it.

The Democratic front-runner for CFO, Loranne Ausley, is a former state representative from Leon County who has been endorsed by former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham. Ms. Ausley opposed the merit pay bills as a usurpation of local control. Precedent is in her favor. In 2006, Ms. Sink beat Republican Tom Lee — a former Senate president — by 328,629 votes. Ms. Ausley could get a similar margin if Florida’s 175,000 teachers voted for her, and each recruited one other family member or friend.

Teachers can’t get to each individual legislator who arrogantly dictated merit pay. But by knocking off Sen. Atwater, they could let it be known that any legislator who has statewide ambitions can’t afford to tick off teachers.

Teachers should go after Sen. Atwater early and hard. If they can’t deprive him of office, of course, nobody will take their threats seriously. But that’s already the situation. Politicians have decreed that they’ll misuse a bunch of tests to gauge teacher effectiveness. Make Sen. Atwater’s bid to become CFO a test of teachers’ political effectiveness.

Too many times, politicians in Tallahassee decide that they are in charge and not the voters – whether it is failing to comply with the will of the voters, or robbing our schools of the resources they need to succeed, while blaming hard working teachers. House Bill 7189, identical to Senate Bill 6, is just another example.

When it comes to the hiring or firing of teachers, this bill would take away all local control from school boards and principals – the administrators who know what’s best for their students – and put it in the hands of politicians in Tallahassee. If students don’t demonstrate test score increases that satisfy Tallahassee bureaucrats, teachers, regardless of their qualifications and experience, will be forced to take lower pay or could even be fired without explanation or recourse. And what’s more – the nationally recognized National Board Certification – the very standards I fought to maintain as a state representative – becomes null and void with the passage of this bill.

Because of the massively increased focus on FCAT style test scores, teachers will be forced not to teach the most challenged students or those with the greatest need of attention and instruction. This is extremely concerning to me as the mother of a special needs first grader whose visual impairment will be increasingly challenging as he moves through the public school system.

Additionally, any school district that doesn’t follow arbitrary standards created in Tallahassee to the letter could have millions of tax dollars removed from their budgets, resulting in higher property taxes for taxpayers, drastic reductions in teacher salaries, or both. As House leadership attempts to ram through this reckless bill that cuts teacher pay, they voted to increase their own salaries, showing how out of touch they truly are.

I stand with the millions of teachers, students, parents and concerned citizens who had zero input in the crafting of this bill to say “enough is enough”. We will not stand idle as some politicians in Tallahassee, who have never set foot in a public school classroom, attack our hard-working school teachers in an effort to slowly erode the public education system.

In my years of public service, I have always stood up for Florida’s students, teachers, and public schools, including championing early childhood education, fighting to ensure public schools are properly funded, ensuring teachers have competitive salaries, addressing overcrowded classrooms, and leveling the playing field for students with disabilities, giving all of our young people the very best opportunity to learn.

That has been and always will be my highest priority. I firmly believe that if we truly invest wisely, there is no greater investment than our child because they are the next generation of our state.