The Florida House advanced a measure reforming teacher performance pay Tuesday, setting the stage for a debate and vote Wednesday.
The House Republican leadership, with the backing of Democrats, carved out two extended sessions this week to tackle the bill. With the support of Rep. Jim Waldman of Coconut Creek, one of the point men of House Democrats on procedural and parliamentary matters, the House leadership agreed to six hours of full debate on Wednesday, giving each side three hours. The House is planning to convene at 1 p.m. on Wednesday and adjourn at 1 a.m.
The measure, SB 736, would increase the number of teachers on annual contracts and ensure that at least half of a teachers salary would be based on assessment -- as opposed to seniority or tenure. A similar measure, SB 6, passed both the House and the Senate last year but was vetoed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist.
Joined by teacher unions, Crist --who would leave the GOP to continue his failed bid for a U.S. Senate seat with no party affiliation --and Democrats fought against SB 6 throughout 2010. But Republicans won big in the November elections, increasing their majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Unlike Crist, Rick Scott said in the first days of his gubernatorial campaign back in April 2010 that he supported SB 6.
Republican leaders made passing the legislation a priority in 2011 and, under the leadership of Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, the measure passed last week, the first week ofthe new session, on a 26-12 vote.
Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, introduced the measure, calling it student-centered and not system-centered. Invoking Floridas success in the federal Race to the Top program, Fresen insisted that teachers need to be continually assessed to help students flourish.
Despitecontrollingonly39 of the 120 seats in the House, Democrats dug in on Tuesday, continuing to oppose the measure.
Fresen quickly came under fire as House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West kicked off hostile questions from his caucus. Fresen took questions from Democrats, some of whom insisted that SB 736 would undermine teachers standing and even strip them of their rights.
This bill in no way takes away the right to collectively bargain, said Fresen in response to a question from Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
Before questions began, the House Democratic Office attacked the measure calling it son of 6 arguing that this bill fires nearly every Florida teacher every year regardless of their performance -- a point that Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, looked to hammer Fresen on.
Cruz and Rouson were just two of a series of Democrats who bombarded Fresen with questions on everything ranging from how charter schools would be impacted by the measure, to implementation, to costs and to the role of standardized tests, for almost three hours.
Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston, who led Democrats for the last two years, insisted that teachers in Florida, on average, were paid between $5,000 to $6,000 less than those around the nation. Does this bill bring up that teacher salary? asked Sands.
No, this bill does not appropriate anything, replied Fresen, who maintained that teacher salaries were done at the local level.
Freshman Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, followed up Sands question with a sharp jab of his own: What was the decision behind drafting a merit bill without increasing merit pay? he demanded.
The first thing you must look at is merit, something we can now look at due to this bill, shot back Fresen.
As Democrats continued to ask Fresen questions about the legislation, House members left the floor -- even Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park. For the first time in the session, Speaker Pro Tempore John Legg, R-Port Richey, presided over the House.
As the hours passed, Fresen, the chairman of the K-20 Competitiveness Subcommitteeand the vice chairman of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee was the only Republican to respond to the questions -- leading to some praise from the other side of the aisle.
Its amazing watching you do this, Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, told Fresen before unleashing his own set of questions.
Democrats attempted to offer amendments to Fresens bill but their attempts failed on votes that fell close to party lines.
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Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
