Today's news

TIME TO FISH OR CUT BAIT: The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is set to tackle its toughest assignment - real tax reform. The main plans up for a vote would change the way Florida pays for education.

DON'T MAKE ME DO IT: A Marion teacher asks not to have to participate in the FCAT administration and calls on others to refuse to participate, the Ocala Star-Banner reports. (He doesn't get his way, of course, though he does make his point.)

FCAT FUN: Schools in northeast Florida tried to encourage kids to do well on the FCAT without building up too much pressure, the Florida Times-Union reports.

MONEY NEEDED, BUT DISTRICT WON'T ASK: Collier's superintendent says the district won't ask voters for a tax increase despite budget needs, because tensions with the teachers' union could doom the referendum, the Naples Daily News reports.

STOPPED SHORT: Florida Gulf Coast University had been on a roll as the state's fastest growing university. But all that's on hold now because of financial pressures on the entire university system, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

FAMU LAW GETS NEW REGISTRAR: The new dean dismisses the old one with little explanation, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

IT LETS THEM ESCAPE LOCAL PRESSURES: Leaders of some Pennsylvania school districts are defending their annual retreats to a Monroe County resort on the taxpayers' dime, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

UNIONS "RUINING OUR SCHOOLS": Teachers have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo regardless of how badly they and their students perform, Richard Berman of the new anti-union Center for Union Facts writes in the Newark (NJ) Examiner. He mentions a Florida teacher enshrined in the state's Educator Hall of Fame the day before she got laid off.

Comments

[Sherman Dorn]

If you're going to mention Berman's op-ed, why don't you mention the long list of blogs responding to the Berman campaign (several noted at http://www.letsgetitright.org/blog/2008/03/bermanology.html), as well as doing a bit of fact-checking on the column's Florida connection: when was Gustafson supposedly fired because of seniority, and is there any confirmation of those allegations?

[Jason]

It seems to me that the states with the highest performing students and schools are also the states with the strongest unions. Perhaps professionally trained educators know what is best for the students and schools. Politicians and corporate interests need to trust the teachers.