Florida Teachers, Parents, Students Organize to Stop SB6

[James Horn <ontogenyx@gmail.com>]

Today's event is listed here, and below is Valerie Strauss's latest piece on
the war against teaching in Florida:

Type:
Causes <http://www.facebook.com/search/?o=4&sfxp=1&c1=2> -
Protest<http://www.facebook.com/search/?o=4&sfxp=1&c1=2&c2=25>
 Date:
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Time:
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Outside Spanish River High School- Boca Raton
Street:
5100 Jog Road
City/Town:
Boca Raton, FL

View Map<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=5100+Jog+Road%2C+Boca+Raton%2C+FL>
Let's show Governor Crist that we mean business... Wear RED... Show up at
the corner of Yamato Road and Jog Road in Boca Raton (outside Spanish River
High School)! Bring your signs... We need to let our legislators and
Governor Crist that we will not stop until this bill is gone... SHOW UP AND
HELP US KEEP UP THE PRESSURE....

With the bill on the fast track, it is more IMPERATIVE than ever that we
show up and let our voices be heard!! Tallahassee in NOT in TOUCH with the
people they serve. We MUST let them know that NOW and in NOVEMBER!!!! Show
up tomorrow... Our children need you!!!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=110807662275554&ref=nf<http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#%21/event.php?eid=110807662275554&ref=nf>



From WaPo:

Florida’s teachers are already up in arms about the likelihood that state
lawmakers are about to end teacher tenure, require the creation of
standardized tests for every single grade, and link teacher pay to student
test scores.

Now there’s another doozy of a bill that the Republican-led legislature is
working on that has teachers, parent, and even school superintendents
aghast.

It’s SB 2126,
<http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&Submenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Billnum=2126&Year=2010>which
would expand a program that allows corporations in Florida to contribute to
a fund that provides scholarships, or vouchers, for private schools. The
corporations can then deduct the amount from their corporate income and
insurance premium taxes.

In other words, millions tax dollars that could go to the state to help out
in this difficult financial downturn would instead go to send kids to
private schools, most of them Christian, Muslim and Jewish.

[Added at 9 p.m.: This is an expansion of a program already in place, and
there are varying estimates of how much money is involved. Supporters of the
fund say it saves money for the state; opponents, and some school districts,
say the opposite.]

Never mind that the state is cutting public education (and other) funding
and raising tuition at public colleges and universities. Somehow, Florida
has money to help corporations help kids go to private religious schools.

Broward County Schools <http://www.browardschools.com/> Superintendent James
Notter, in an interview with my colleague Nick Anderson said: "I’m adamantly
opposed to it. It’s draining off dollars in the Great Recession that aren’t
there."

Schools in Florida, he said, have enough trouble already getting funding for
what they need, including in his 250,000-student system.

Sadly, big trouble is where the Florida public school system is headed.

Yesterday, the House Education Policy Council held an hours-long hearing
about legislation that would end teacher tenure--which would make Florida
the first state to do so--and tie teacher pay to standardized test scores.
It would also negate the importance of teacher experience, credentials or
advanced degrees, and require the creation of standardized tests for every
grade in every subject already not assessed by the state’s accountability
system.

In Florida, kids will first learn to walk, then talk and then jump right
into test-prep.

The Senate has already passed its version,
SB6<http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2010/Senate/bills/billtext/pdf/s2580c1.pdf>,
and the House is expected to pass
HB7189<http://www.flsenate.gov/session/index.cfm?BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Mode=Bills&ElementID=JumpToBox&SubMenu=1&Year=2010&billnum=7189>this
week. Monday, teachers packed the chamber where the hearing was being
held, hoping to get a chance to speak against it during time set aside for
public speeches. Most of the people permitted to speak were, of course,
supporters of the bill.

After one of a series of amendments to improve the bill was rejected by the
council, a few teachers got up and left, sobbing.

There was nothing left for them to do, because the legislators seem intent
on making this law, and Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has said he will sign it.

If you listen to the sponsor of the Senate version, new Florida Republican
Party chief Sen. John Thrasher, which I did on a video that I can no longer
find on YouTube, you learn that he doesn’t know some basics about the bill’s
impact.

For example, when asked by a colleague how many tests would have to be
created, he said he didn’t know. When asked how much it would cost, he said
he didn’t know. When asked whether there was any marker in the bill that
would show its true cost, he hedged.

I also listened to a video in which Thrasher introduced the
bill<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PbrbqGdlI>,
and some of the language seemed oddly familiar. Then I realized that I had
read it before, in a position paper on the Web site of former governor Jeb
Bush's Foundation for Florida’s
Future.<http://www.foundationforfloridasfuture.org/Docs/SB%206%20Teacher%20Excellence%20Position%20Paper%2003.10.10.pdf>

Well, Bush was interested in education as governor; he pushed through the
legislature the statewide assessment test known as FCAT. And Bush did
strongly boost Thrasher’s ascension to the Republican party chairmanship in
February, after Jim Greer was ousted from the post. Now Greer is suing the
Republican Party of Florida, claiming it hasn’t abided by a secret pact that
it made to get him out of office involving a job that would pay Greer tens
of thousands of dollars plus health benefits until his tenure would have
been up in 2011, according to this Florida Today story.
<http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100403/NEWS01/4030319/1006/Greer+sues+GOP+over+hush+funds>

Oh. Wait. This is an education blog and that sounds a lot like politics,
doesn’t it?

Exactly.

That’s what we’ve got: politicians telling educators what to do, even though
the politicians have no idea what works in a classroom and what doesn’t.

It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that no teachers were involved in the
drafting of this legislation. Anybody who knows the first thing about
education knows that the measures in this bill will make it harder for
Florida’s children to get a decent education. Effective teachers will
bristle at working under these conditions.

Notter has said it would be harder to attract qualified teachers, which is
something of supreme importance to a superintendent. Florida’s Republicans
leaders, of course, don’t care. They don’t have to hire the teachers--or get
paid according to student test scores.

All of this helps explain why teachers in Florida think public education is
under attack, a reaction made quite clear at the Teaching is Not Testing
Facebook Page.<http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/testingisnotteaching?v=wall&ref=ts>Parents
and other nonpartisan Floridians are involved, too, at Fund
Education Now. <http://www.fundeducationnow.org/>

They are all busy getting ready for the next offensive.



--
Posted By Jim Horn to Schools
Matter<http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/04/florida-teachers-parents-students.html>at
4/07/2010 09:09:00 AM