Scott signs teacher merit pay law

[William769]

JACKSONVILLE: Gov. Rick Scott signed the teacher merit pay bill on Thursday in Jacksonville, his first signed legislation since becoming Governor.

"We must recruit and retain the best people to make sure every classroom in Florida has a highly effective teacher," Scott said.

The portion of the bill dealing with eliminating multi-year contracts for new teachers goes into effect July 1.

Schools are given three years to set up new evaluation systems for teachers tied to test scores. That portion goes into effect July 2014.


http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=14314126

[Dappleganger]

1. And to add insult to injury, he signed the bill into law at KIPP school, no less.

Motherfucking prick.

[Snoutport]

2. i teach special ed...my students score close to 0 ...am i fired?

i just felt my stomach drop when i read your post.

sigh.

[Sabriel]

3. AKA the "Drill and Kill Bill"

Drill meaningless disconnected facts and kill creative thinking in your students.

Teachers are essentially given a choice between dumbing down their own students or losing money out of their paycheck.

Why don't we just use painful electric shocks instead? It'll save the paperwork headache.

[callous taoboy]

4. Get ready to despise your lowest students and their parents, Florida teachers

[bluestateguy]

8. Methinks they [administrators and teachers] will find ways to get rid of the low performing students

Like creatively drummed up reasons for having them expelled, or for the older students, encouraging them to drop out.

Teachers are like any other paid professional who will do what they have to do to earn a living, even if it is Machiavellian.

[Mojo_electro]

5. This is just sickening...

The all out war on education of our children is in full swing... this one hits close to home.

My girlfriend is a teacher in a Broward county school (in fact the very same school that girl was badly beaten last year). Wakes up at 5 am to be there at 7am and she is there until about 4pm, no lunch, no breaks...after which time she brings home a huge stack of papers because she still has stuff to grade, essays to read, and other school related stuff to do until she can finally get a chance to maybe eat some dinner before collapsing of exhaustion only to do it all over the next day. She loves her kids and really wants them to succeed, all the while getting the shit end of the stick from the bureaucrat administrators and the government, screamed at by parents, and severely limited in what she can teach because of the standardized testing requirements... all for a paycheck she barely gets by on. Many of her kids are in poverty, abused, and have deeply troubled lives... many of them rarely show up. She has pregnant 8th grade students, students whose families live in their car, kids that have been to jail.... you name it

I know I am biased because she is my loved one, but she is a GREAT teacher and IMO her (137 of them) kids are lucky to have her, she really does care... and she is now looking for another line of work because (especially since the criminal Rick Scott is in office) just cant take it anymore... this is what this policy is doing, driving good, caring teachers out of the field but they just can't stand being kicked around anymore... I sit on the couch with her and help grade papers and sometimes she is in tears because she is overwhelmed and nobody seems to appreciate it and she doesn't know what to do. Her and some teacher friend plan to attend a pro teachers union rally in Ft. Lauderdale and I will be there shoulder to shoulder with them. The war on education needs to stop.

I guess if you are a Republican corporatist, the last thing in the world you want is an educated population.... lets keep em beat down and ignorant from a young age so they don't get uppity later on.

It's a shame.. a damn shame that Rick Scott is our governor.... I wish the recall movement would get a head of steam going....

Love his quote on the new privatization of hospitals issue.. of the of the quotes was something like (paraphrasing) "so public hospitals don't waste money on caring for people who can't afford it"... why "waste" money on the sick and poor? Let em die! One less mouth on welfare... that must be their philosophy.

Filthy corporate scumbags.

Thanks for letting me rant, folks.

[ellenfl]

9. what's sickening is that voters had already voted this down.

so much for listening to the will of the people. :eyes:

ellen fl

[gratuitous]

6. Will there be merit pay for governors, as well?

Let's put that one to a vote.

[bluestateguy]

7. A rational teacher will now structure all class curriculum around standardized tests

No originality, no creativity, the whole school year will be organized around the Great Test.

The teachers will say, "After all, this is what I need to do to earn a living".