Comments on: Florida OKs Teacher Merit Pay Bill; Scott To Sign

By: Mike P

Mike P — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:00:54 +0000

Wow, I have to respond to “Bully” that I never thought of education as a privilege.

That sounds scary to me. Kind of Dark Ages.

Next someone will be saying that freedom is a privilege. A bunch of people already think voting should be a privilege.

Some think the uneducated shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Now you are saying education is a privilege. Sounds like you are in the same group. You probably are against felons voting too. They ALWAYS vote against the drug war. At least that is the fear, right?

By: art

art — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:24:04 +0000

how bout this idea? just say no to standardized testing and all the funding and spending they incur. does scott have the courage to say no to washington on that one? that’s right, how bout have the guts to stand behind our kiddos and not a bunch of corporate suits. he disgusts me.

By: Bully

Bully — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:37:40 +0000

Something needs to be done to route out the lazy teachers that hide behind the protection of tenure. It is agreeable that tenure should be removed but the solution in this bill only swaps one problem for another. These same lazy teachers who hide behind tenure will only be tempted to ‘cheat’ the tests by teaching the tests and some will go so far to actually give answers to test questions in order to protect their jobs. It also places undo pressure in schools in areas with low socio-economic status where there is typically no parental guidance for many of the students, which is a necessary ingredient for quality education.

The solution starts at the top. School staff leadership are just as incapable in many respects and go to all efforts to protect the ineffective teachers in order to protect themselves. Small rural schools are especially rampant with nepotism(Blood is thicker than water) and another layer of protection hinders good education.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t solve the problem and I suspect the public school will continually get worse in general and the effective teachers will get continue to get caught up in it.

If a parent is looking for a good eduction today, borrow the money if you have to and get a private education or better yet, homeschool them.

Education is a privilege, not a right. This was believed before the Civil War, but the north won, the indoctrination began and started with the children and public education.

By: BettyinMilton

BettyinMilton — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:30:03 +0000

This will cause good teachers to leave the schools that need them most. Why would a teacher stay in a school with a poor student performance and lose their job? It is not always the teachers fault that a student does badly.It could be home influence..if parents don’t care the kid won’t care and the teacher pays the price for that. It is a great idea to weed out bad teachers but this isn’t the way. Plus Scott wants to cut community mental health that means schools will no longer have licensed menatl health therapists to help kids in need and I know first hand…there are a lot of kids who need the mental health therapy.Kids will junkie parents or alcoholics..Sometimes the school therapist is the only one who listens to them and cares. Scott is cutting budgets in the wrong places and children are going to be the ones who suffer for it. I am ashamed to say I voted for Scott but never again.

By: Mike P

Mike P — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:46:36 +0000

As a thought experiment let’s apply this Merit Pay idea to other professions.

Firefighters get annual contracts and their pay depends on how many homes they save.

Police get annual contracts and pay depends on crime rates going down and cases being closed.

Politicians get annual contracts and get paid when jobs and pay increase.

Bank CEO pay depends on how many people keep their homes and do not go through foreclosure.

Judges pay depends on whether offenders repeat their crimes and land back in court or are successful in society.

Large corporations like Walmart have their pay adjusted based on the amount of money the government has to spend on welfare for their employees and how positive an impact Walmart or other companies have on their communities.

Of course the corporations would have to have their pay adjusted by taxation on profits.

Just a thought experiment…

By: northendbratt2

northendbratt2 — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:36:49 +0000

Well, well, the people who voted for Scott seem to be the ones who are suffering the most! From what I see he has done nothing but undo what has worked in Fl for years. People THINK, before you cast your vote next time!!!!!!!!

By: Ridiculous

Ridiculous — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:43:17 +0000

What great news! My wife and I struggle with our 10 year old and have met with her teacher several times, what a great woman and excellent teacher, yet our child still has poor test grades. So y’all want to dock the teacher’s pay for a child not performing well. I guess everyone that supports this graduated with A-B honor roll, as well as their kids. All this is going to do is pull/retard the good teachers from the poorer-performing schools! This must be part of that great “republican change” Scott was going to ensure, even tho Republicans have been running Florida for the last , what, 12 years! Funny thing is, I know several, several people who thought Crist (R) was great, til he swtiched his party Crist (I), hilarious! Anyways, there are other ways to evaluate teacher performance than basing their pay on student test grades. Oh well, only thing I can say is “I voted for Sink!”

By: Jan Enfinger

Jan Enfinger — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:28:05 +0000

To ! on March 17, 2011:

TRY TEACHING IN A PUBLIC CLASSROOM FOR A WHILE!!

While you were writing the email to tell us to try working in the private sector (I assume you do), I was in a classroom with many good students and too many who have no drive, ambition, respect for themselves or for their teachers, trying to maintain control and actually teach curriculum and encourage them to have a better attitude. Didn’t have time to check the news at 10:30 a.m. Bet I would make more money in the “private sector” for the many hats I wear. Like my job and can’t stand to hear from those who think they know what it’s really like! Just would be nice to be appreciated now and then.

By: JJONES

JJONES — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:59:02 +0000

(on March ) Whats your point? There are probably 2 or 3 special education teachers at each school at most .Thats a great deal for those teachers who are exempted. There are also students that are low level in certain subjects,just on the border line of special education. Some that just go to special areas just for reading and some that just dont care because their parents don’t care when it comes to test time . Should our teachers pay for that? This will penalize all teachers no matter how well they perform. Some more than others but all will have issues really beyond their control.

By: It works.....

It works..... — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:47:08 +0000

“Ineffective teachers need to be on guard, effective teachers have nothing to worry about,”

I love it!

Thank you Gov. Rick Scott for having the courage that ex-Gov Sorry Charlie Christ lacked. I like your style. You sir a a TRUE REPUBLICAN. Keep up the good work.

Fiscal responsibility in government is AWESOME!!!!