A letter from a high school junior calls the idea "beyond ridiculous." A pleading voicemail message tells legislators that students "want to have our teachers for next year."
Children have been flooding Republican senators with phone calls and handwritten letters, urging them to defeat an effort that would institute performance pay for Florida teachers. But the Senate Majority Office insists it's the teachers and the teachers unions -- not the children -- who are behind those requests.
The office received the majority of the calls and letters on Friday, two days after the Senate voted 21-17 to pass SB 6, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville. The bill, which is now heading to the House, ties teacher salaries to student performance on end-of-course assessments, abolishes teacher tenure and authorizes a yearly contract system.
Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, received roughly 30 voicemails that appear to be from children, said Jaryn Emhof, Atwaters press secretary.
The Majority Office hasnt tallied how many messages it received, but the number seems to be in the hundreds, said Brian Hughes, Majority Office press secretary. Hughes said the voicemails appear to have been made at school with adults, possibly teachers, present. The calls were made during normal school hours, although Hughes didnt know if the schools were on spring break.
It just begs the question: Do parents know their children are becoming pawns in a lobbying effort by teachers unions? Hughes said.
In one voice message to Atwater, made at 1:21 p.m. Friday in Miami, a childs voice speaks passionately as an adult and others talk in the background.
Hello, Mr. Atwater, please vote no for Bill 6, the voice says. Vote no for Bill 6. Its not fair for us students. Us students want to have electives, and we want to have our teachers for next year. And also, we dont want no charter schools.
Atwater received several handwritten notes that appeared to have come from students. The volume and similarity imply they were written in schools, Hughes said.
A letter ending Up Yours, Atwater reads:
I am a junior at Park Vista High School in Palm Beach County. I have always aspired to be a kindergarten teacher after getting my degree from one of Floridas wonderful universities. I have three aunts and one cousin who are teachers and have been for years. I would like to say that I find Senate Bill 6 preprosterous (sic). Baseing (sic) teachers salaries on test scores is beyond ridiculous
Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, said the teachers union is not leading the campaign.
Weve sent no instructions to have students call, Pudlow said.
Pudlow said it is wrong to assume the children were in school when they made the call, because the states many school districts have staggered spring breaks. The adults in the voicemails do not identify themselves as teachers, he said.
It's hypocritical for Republicans to criticize students fighting "merit" pay, Pudlow said, when more than 5,000 students were allowed to rally for expansion of the school voucher program in the Capitol courtyard last Wednesday.
Hughes, though, said the rally was justified because students who had vouchers were advocating for vouchers, thus acting in their own best interest. In the case of the calls, teachers appear to be using students to advocate for teachers interests, not students.
It makes sense for scholarship students to talk about a scholarship," he said.
Click here to listen to one voice mail from a student opposing SB 6.
