A restructured bill that would tie teacher salaries to the performance of their students stands ready for a vote in the Florida Senate later this week, after legislators hashed out its merits Wednesday.
Senate Bill 736 is legislation attempting to remove the most controversial elements of last year's Senate Bill 6, which sparked outrage among teachers throughout the state and was eventually vetoed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist.
Sponsored by Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, SB 736 would compel school districts to create value-added measurements of student performance over a three-year period. At least 50 percent of the evaluations must be derived from test scores. Teachers deemed "effective" or "highly effective" would receive raises under the bill, while those getting "ineffective" or "needs improvement" marks would be in jeopardy of losing their job.
Senators applauded Wise's work on the bill, but voiced concerns over how the raises for high-performing teachers implemented by the bill would be paid for by the state.
Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, pressed Wise on where the money would come from, and if the $700 million the state is receiving as part of federal stimulus money and part of the Race to the Top program would leave the state's education funding in the lurch after the federal money dries up.
"We need to be accountable to taxpayers. How far will the $700 million go?" Dockery asked.
Wise said that state statutes already require school districts to create their own year-end tests, and that money for the creation of new tests and for raises included in the bill would come from state's traditional funding mechanism for local school districts, the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).
"It's built into the FEFP. What we really do is build it into the FEFP," Wise said, adding that teachers unions would bargain over their contracts with the existing funds provided by the state.
But Wise's answers did not placate Democrats, who are wary of the bill and the state's abilty to fund the raises without additional education funds.
"I don't believe it is possible to do this within the current appropriated amounts for our districts," said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich of Weston.
Senators also dueled over the bill's impact on teacher tenure and whether Florida would be able to attract teachers into the profession with decreased job security.
Wise's bill would phase out tenure for teachers by stipulating that all teachers hired after July 1 would be subject to one-year contracts. Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, tried to place an amendment on the bill that would have offered three-year contracts to "effective" or "highly effective" teachers, but it was voted down by Republicans.
"It would build confidence in our teachers' ranks. If you have a 10-year veteran teacher, what's wrong with giving that teacher more than a year's contract? It would help those teachers give a committment to that district," Montford said.
The bill is expected to pass the Senate in a final vote Thursday.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
