Gov. Rick Scott signed into law on Thursday the teacher merit pay bill which ties their pay to unpopular test scores and brings an end to multi-year contracts.
“We must recruit and retain the best people to make sure every classroom in Florida has a highly effective teacher,” said Scott who signed his first bill since becoming governor, in Jacksonville.
While the elimination of teachers’ multi-year contracts takes effect on July 1st, schools have three years–July 2014–to develop evaluation systems that would tie their pay to test scores.
Last year, then Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a similar merit pay bill amidst teacher protests. This year, in the main, Florida teachers just sucked it up and let Scott have his way.
