Superintendents have concerns over ethics law

Florida's new educator ethics law takes effect July 1, and superintendents already have concerns that it goes too far.

What used to be known as the "seven deadly sins" that could get an educator fired becomes a 49-item list, and it appears to be retroactive, meaning any certified teacher with any long-forgotten criminal misstep (no matter how minor) could be targeted to lose his or her license.

The superintendents association is asking the State Attorney General's Office for an opinion on how this can happen. They also are looking to the Department of Education for a statewide policy to govern implementation, rather than having to create local rules that might not coincide from county to county.

"I understand where they wanted to go with this," Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino told her board, reporting from a recent meeting of the state's district leaders. "But they have gone past some of that. ... (The law has) deep penetrating consequences."

Pasco School Board attorney Dennis Alfonso called the law "pretty expansive."

"It does have provisions that create punitive measures both against the board and the superintendent if we don't follow the requirements," he said, noting that his colleagues from Hernando and Polk are working with FSBA on suggested standards.

"Don't you see that going into a lawsuit almost immediately?" board member Marge Whaley wondered.

"Oh, yes," Alfonso said.

Comments

Why didn't termie get his buddy Marco to fix this bill? Doesn't he represent the teachers? It looks like one more big failure on his resume to me.

The big problem with the new law is that it is retroactively applied to people that already have a license (teaching certificate) and a job. "Bad acts" committed before the law was in place are now punished (possibly for issues that are decades old). Both the Florida and US Constitution prohibit the Legislature from enacting retroactive laws except in the most limited of circumstances, and only then when the Legislative body includes a finding that the retroactivity is paramount to protecting the citizens. This has not happened with this law. The Governor (a lawyer) should know this and veto the law, but he isn't a very good lawyer.

The retroactivity is important. Presumably, the employer and the state DOE knew about the past bad act and determined to give the person the license and job anyway. These decisions create a property rights (to the license and job) that cannot be stripped away at will. The Senate staff attorneys did an extremely poor job on the draft bill, and the House staff didn't do enough to fix it.

[Teacher]

Big Brother,

Can I have Freedom of Speech at home?

(oo) Chapter 847, relating to obscenity.

Also,

"a person must shall be of good moral
character;"

How does one define moral character - what is good, better, best, etc. Which standard are you using?
If your standard is the Bible, one could interpret it to no drinking, no sex before marriage.

[Timmy!]

Thank You Jeff.

[Jeff Solochek]

Please see section 1012.315 of the bill, Disqualification for Employment, here:
http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_s1712er.DOC&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=1712&Session=2008
It's on page 32 of 57, where the law lists items a through uu. Let me know if that's not helpful.

[Timmy!]

Jeff,

Can you link to the referenced 49 item list of no-no's? I couldn't dig it out.