Today the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed SB 736, a teacher merit pay bill that will place heavy emphasis on student test scores in evaluating teachers and how much they are paid.
Many union workers, teachers, and Democratic lawmakers have chided the bill as it will end tenure for newly hired teachers by placing them on one-year contracts.
SB 736 will also end pay raises for teachers with advanced degrees and place an unfair emphasis on student test scores to grade educators. According to some estimates, it’s projected that the costs of the tests would be upwards of $1 billion dollars.
Rep. Scott Randolph, (D-Orlando) said that the bill has neither merit nor pay.
SB 736 has “no pay because the bill provides zero money for merit pay–the bill says ‘if or when money is appropriated,’ which given the fact that Republicans are cutting education between 7-10 percent this year, isn’t going to happen any time soon. It’s a shame; a bait and switch,” Randolph said.
Governor Rick Scott wants to cut at least $4.8 billion dollars from the education budget and Republicans fall right in line with him on his goals for education.
Randolph also stated that SB 736 does not take into consideration the needs or problems of students whose test scores will be used as a measuring stick for teachers.
The bill is scheduled to go into effect in 2014, which gives unions and opponents of the new legislation plenty of time to drum up support for some type of revised version of the bill.
Signs from local teacher unions point to a probable lawsuit that will challenge the bill’s constitutionality.
