Florida House lawmakers began two days of debate over a controversial teacher merit pay bill (SB 736) that ties teacher pay to test scores and eliminates the use of multi-year contracts. Democrats, who spent three hours on Tuesday raising questions and proposing amendments, say the bill is punitive to educators and, among other criticisms, fails to improve teacher salaries.
“There are no dollars attached to a merit increase,” said Rep. Mark Pafford (D-West Palm Beach). “So where is the carrot?”
Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) queried why a decision was made to draft a merit pay bill without any actual merit pay.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, said school districts are only required to have an evaluation system tied to test scores in place. It is left up to each school district when to award raises.
Rep. Martin Kiar (D-Parkland) offered an amendment to align the bill with the federal Race to the Top standards in a memorandum of understanding signed by school districts.
Rep. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami) proposed an amendment to give teachers a three-year contract, instead of an annual contract as prescribed by the bill.
And still another proposed amendment was put forward by Rep. Gwyn Clarke-Reed (D-Deerfield Beach) to help ensure that teachers determined to be “highly effective” and “effective” in their performance are not arbitrarily or capriciously discriminated against by administrators. Her amendment would require a teacher’s non-renewal to be based on performance and other legitimate reasons.
Rep. Reggie Fullwood (D-Jacksonville) proposed an amendment to require principals who refuse to renew the annual contract of a high-performing teacher to state in writing the reason for the dismissal.
But all the proposed amendments failed and the passage of the bill is all but assured as it is backed by the Republican-dominated House, Senate and Florida Governor Rick Scott.
The House is expected to approve the bill on Wednesday after more debate, sending it to Scott for his signature.
