Same bill, different facts: Jeb Bush's education foundation backs bill that FEA boos

On Monday, the Florida Education Association slammed the bill moving through the Florida Senate that would change the way teachers are evaluated and paid. The union argued current law is good enough to remove bad teachers, and to say otherwise is a myth.

Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future fired back today with a set of its own myths and facts, with its main point being the exact opposite of the union's. It's too tough to fire bad teachers and the law needs major change, the foundation states.

Hmmmm. Wonder which side the GOP-dominated Legislature will side with as the bill hits committees starting Wednesday.

To see the foundation's presentation, read on.

"Myth vs. Fact: The Truth about Reform
Modernizing Teacher Evaluations, Tenure and Compensation for the 21st Century

Myth:    The current process for evaluating teachers is fine the way it is.

Fact:    Last year, 99.7% of teachers in the state earned a “satisfactory” evaluation, yet 50% of our high school students, 35% of our middle school students and 30% of our elementary students didn’t make a year’s worth of progress in reading.  (And 60%, 40% and 30%, respectively, were not reading on grade level.)  That’s fine?

Myth:   The bill will eliminate tenure in Florida.

Fact:   The bill doesn’t eliminate tenure for teachers in the classroom today.  The courts have determined that tenure is a property right and can’t be taken away by the Legislature. The bill does end the practice of granting lifetime guarantee of employment after just three years in the classroom.  Instead, new teachers will have annual performance contracts. 

Myth:    Annual tests are not a good measure of teacher effectiveness. 

Fact:    Annual tests are an objective measure of the knowledge and skills students gain from one year to the next.  If you believe teachers impact how much a student learns, then annual tests that measure progress are an objective measure of their effectiveness in the classroom. 

Myth:   It’s unfair to base teacher evaluations on student learning.

Fact:   Right now, teacher performance reviews are based on the observations and opinions of their principal – making these evaluations 100% subjective.  Using data for 50% of the annual performance review makes the evaluation more objective – and therefore, more fair. 

Myth:   The bill punishes teachers whose students are below grade level.

Fact:   The bill doesn’t punish teachers whose students are not on grade level.  The bill requires progress – what students learn during the year – to be considered.  Teachers can’t control what their students know when they show up on the first day of school, but they do influence what they learn during the year in their class. In fact, measuring progress may benefit teachers who teach students with disabilities and low-performing students the most.

Myth:   The bill cuts teacher pay.

Fact:   Under the bill, the more students learn, the more teachers earn.  The bill requires at least half of teacher salaries to be based on whether students are learning.  It also raises salaries for teachers in high-poverty schools and teachers of subjects that are in high demand, such as math and science."

Comments

[Pat Connolly, who is an employee of DSBPC, but is speaking as a private citizen]

Actually George, the legislators get less than a first-year teacher, in terms of basic pay for the year. Of course, they don't work all year, or even the amount if time a teacher works (for those of you who gripe about teacher unpaid "vacation" time). Not to mention all the perks and benefits they get legally. Not to mention all the extras they get otherwise.

[Teach]

George...Perfect and right on comment. I bet if a bill was up for vote for government salaries to be constructed as you outlined, there would be a hell of an uproar by the suits in the fancy cars. God forbid they would have to work 2 jobs and drive a 12 year old car like many of us do.

[George]

How about the student who didn't do their work, got a low grade and wants to get back at the teacher and really doesn't care about the FCAT?

Can we make our legislator's income start at the salary of a first year teacher and then attach the rest of it to: unemployment, inflation, crime rates, housing starts........ get the idea?

[George]

Saying that because our students are not progressing and it's the teacher's fault is like saying that since we are in such bad financial situations right now, it MUST be the politician's fault because they control everything.

They said it here... "teachers can INFLUENCE" we cannot control. We do not have control of what we teach, when we teach it and in some cases even the words we use, and what happens when the students leave. We do not have control over our student's learning if we are an ESE teacher. I'm sure I am not alone when I say that I will gladly take this bill if you let me choose the students I teach, what I teach them and when. How long it takes me to teach a concept is another item we do not have the benefit of control over. If the students don't get it in time, the pacing guide takes over and you move on. How is that something I should be responsible for?

[julie]

Exactly what tests will be used in grades that don't take FCAT or for teachers who teach subjects like music, art, PE, etc. What are the obligations of the parents to ensure that the students get enough sleep, food, basic care, etc? What about the child whose father is arrested the day of the test, or electricity is turned off that day, or the teen who is on drugs and couldn't care less? A teacher's ability to earn a paycheck is to be directly dependent on all of those variables? This is the most insane bill ever! Let's pay the senators based on how many bills they write and get passed?

[Working in the trenches]

I'm tired of the idiologues spinning their fiction regarding what's best for students. Let's look at the facts as the foundation sees it. I will add a real fact line below the foundations. See for yourself which makes more sense.

"Myth vs. Fact: The Truth about Reform
Modernizing Teacher Evaluations, Tenure and Compensation for the 21st Century

Myth: The current process for evaluating teachers is fine the way it is.

Fact: Last year, 99.7% of teachers in the state earned a “satisfactory” evaluation, yet 50% of our high school students, 35% of our middle school students and 30% of our elementary students didn’t make a year’s worth of progress in reading. (And 60%, 40% and 30%, respectively, were not reading on grade level.) That’s fine?

Real fact: Most teachers see individual students a mere 50 minutes a day (most 6-12 grade classes), if... they come to school. The real problem is the family and how students are being raised and our culture. Do we blame the dentist for our cavities? No! It may be currently polically correct to attack our teachers, but the ones I know and work with are hard working professionals who are stuck in a political crossfire while trying to educate our children dispite politicians who are looking for talking points and cheap votes.

Myth: The bill will eliminate tenure in Florida.

Fact: The bill doesn’t eliminate tenure for teachers in the classroom today. The courts have determined that tenure is a property right and can’t be taken away by the Legislature. The bill does end the practice of granting lifetime guarantee of employment after just three years in the classroom. Instead, new teachers will have annual performance contracts.

Real fact: Most teachers are highly educated and are continually trained to maintain their licenses. You want even less educated and less professional teachers to come into the educational system to teach our children, then beat them over the head like the legislature been doing in their misguided political agendas for the past several years.

Myth: Annual tests are not a good measure of teacher effectiveness.

Fact: Annual tests are an objective measure of the knowledge and skills students gain from one year to the next. If you believe teachers impact how much a student learns, then annual tests that measure progress are an objective measure of their effectiveness in the classroom.

Real Fact: As a secondary teacher, you are telling me that I will be held responsible for the learning of a child that 5 other teachers plus myself had worked with. who's to say 5 of 6 of us are outstanding teachers, and one teacher in a critical subject isn't a satisfactory teacher. In the Foundation's opinion we will all get painted with the same brush stroke. There is no validity to this measurement technique when there are so many variables that are impacting student learning yet they areren't part of the formula.

Myth: It’s unfair to base teacher evaluations on student learning.

Fact: Right now, teacher performance reviews are based on the observations and opinions of their principal – making these evaluations 100% subjective. Using data for 50% of the annual performance review makes the evaluation more objective – and therefore, more fair.

Real fact: These reviews are based on objective criteria as created by administrators for the pure purpose of evaluated teachers as fairly as possible using definable catagories.

Myth: The bill punishes teachers whose students are below grade level.

Fact: The bill doesn’t punish teachers whose students are not on grade level. The bill requires progress – what students learn during the year – to be considered. Teachers can’t control what their students know when they show up on the first day of school, but they do influence what they learn during the year in their class. In fact, measuring progress may benefit teachers who

Real fact: Some children who are kept in school and do not drop out but show little if any progress may be a real definable success. To assume all student can be successful ignores the reality of life in many of our communities homes. Drugs, jail, mental instabilty, sex and others issues impact student success... and I'm only talking about the students' parents. Now let's look at adolescent students and what they are dealing with today.

Myth: The bill cuts teacher pay.

Fact: Under the bill, the more students learn, the more teachers earn. The bill requires at least half of teacher salaries to be based on whether students are learning. It also raises salaries for teachers in high-poverty schools and teachers of subjects that are in high demand, such as math and science."

Real fact: Regardless of the rhetoric, there is NO real intention of paying teachers properly. They are poorly paid and many others who could be coming into the educational field go instead to private business to make real money and have real professional lives where they are respected for their productivity, not told how terrible they are when students are succeeding in their own classrooms despite all the other factors that make success today so difficult.

Let's face it folks, until the legislature makes it a priority to fund education properly, all they can do is put band-aids on the problems and use teachers as their scapegoats.

[Informed parent]

lets see the politicians run our state and we are in a recession. They should be working on ways to create more jobs or how about the home owner insurance problem. How about the taxation problem that we have in this state no lets create a problem then fix it. Plain and simple we should flunk this group of politician and get new ones. Remember this is the same group that voted them selfs a raise when we had so many problems and they did nothing Great leaders we have here Jeb bush help create all the diffrent problem. He has been going around the country bragging about all the great gains our children our making yet not there is a problem talk about talking out both side of your butt. Plain and simple this is to undermind public education and create a private system that the jebster and others can make money from

[Gabriel]

Justyna,
You said it, not me. I'm not afraid to bring about change, how about you? Or is that a shudder I hear? Step-up to the plate, Teach.

[so many questions]

It's my understanding that RTTT funds are non-recurring. So, for a one time shot of a few bucks, we're going to change the whole system? How will we pay for all this after our 3 pieces of silver are spent, Dr. Todd? And why is there so much demonizing of teachers? Every teacher can't be exceptional, by definition. Most teachers are in the middle, neither exceptional, nor inept; why make all of them feel stressed and belittled? Oh, right, it's a political agenda we're talking about here, so we need to convince the public the sky is falling and only the R's in the legislature can save us.

[Pat Connolly, who is an employee of DSBPC, but is speaking as a private citizen]

"Dr." Mike Todd,
You are a pimp, pure and simple. You expect teachers to prostitute themselves so that you can enrich yourself at the public trough through your "consulting company".

How dare you include yourself in "we educators". You have NOTHING in common with real educators - the classroom teachers who pour out their souls everyday. You have as much in common with real educators as the smith who made the shackles had with the slaves who wore them.

[terminator]

Dr. Toad:
apparently you missed the memo from Ron Meyer of FEA (you know the guy who's kicked Jeb and R's rear ends the past ten years on vouchers and class size).
Ron says Thrasher's bill has big Constitutional problems (assuming it passes which it won't).
So if miraculously it did get by the full Senate chamber we'll be ready with lawsuit after lawsuit.
Poor Mr. Thrasher won't get much help since the trial lawyers hate his guts and he doesn't have the same firepower we do on the legal front.
Looks like poor Johnny, his mentor the Jebster and the corrupt R's are in for tough sledding!

[Justyna]

Kat, real bright of you to use the business sector as a model for success! Perhaps the schools should be run be morally challenged hedge fund managers or maybe a Bernie Madoff could lend some advice? And, just so you know; the teachers have had their hands tied by corrupt Administrators and politicians. If the parents of some of these criminals can't control them, how do you expect a teacher to do it? Volunteer in a classroom and remove the blinders. Maybe Gabriel (The Real Gabriel) could show you around?

[Teach]

Obviously Kat has not spent time in a secondary school lately. It takes an act of God to actually get an out of control student removed from school. Sure, a day in ISS, OSS, but that is a temp. fix. We COULD do our jobs if, as you say, parents "send a well-behaved child willing to learn to school" All too often the problem is that parents look to us as a babysitter and educator of moral and values that should be well established before coming to school. "If private sector employers maintained workplace environments like in the schools they would be shut down and put in jail". The problem with this comment is that an employer accepts employees that fit into a criteria that best suits their requirements. Public schools, by law, have to accept everyone and anyone. The rules are not the same and should not be compared as such. If I could set guidelines and interview and only accept the best applicants for my classroom in the same way an employer does, I would have no problem at all with having my job, security, and salary based on performance. In reality, I am expected to turn coal into diamonds overnight.

[Dr. Mike Todd]

Funds for this will be provided by RTTT. We must not turn a deaf ear to funds available and that teacher unions refuse to be a part of. Whether or not we as educators make a choice to accept funds from the federal DOE, state statute will require districts to implement. There are other legislative bills to be very aware of.

[Kat]

Good parents should be picketing the schools not the Uhurus. Is it too much to expect when they send a well-behaved child willing to learn to school that he/she will be in a safe, drug-free, learning environment? Is it too much to require children to meet simple decency standards in their attire? Good grief have we all lost our minds? ENFORCE THE CODE OF CONDUCT! Isn't it important for teachers and administrators to maintain control? If they can't do we keep adding more and more law enforcement? Why have a code if you are too scared to enforce it? Gee here is an idea, if the inmates are not running the assylum TEST SCORES WOULD GO UP. Why are our kids being put in physical and emotional danger when surrounded by "educated and professional" adults who are suppose to be in charge? Why shouldn't we expect our education institutions to teach and prepare our kids for a decent future and allow them to learn in safety and respect? If this system can't work we need to scrap it and start over until we get it right. Please, STOP TELLING US YOU CAN'T DO YOUR JOBS. We have heard it for decades and things only get worse. If private sector employers maintained workplace environments like in the schools they would be shut down and put in jail.

[Former Parent]

At Saint Pete High, I.B. teachers enjoy a 14% increment in salary. Their students are not only focused on academic success but also benefit as the recipients of parental support. Indeed, they are excellent teachers. On the "other side", teachers receive neither stipend nor parental support. The expectation is that they "tutor" during their 30 minutes of lunch without compensation. Mr. Solochek, your "myth vs. fact" is questionable.

[murph]

I have several students who come to school once or twice a month, how am I going to be held accountable for their learning? I have other students who have been in jail three or four times this school year, some of these young men are nearing 18 years old and are still freshmen. How is that my fault? It's hard to blame the parents because these kids don't really have them, maybe a mom but dad is usually gone or in prison. A lot of my students live with an aunt or grandmother, they have no discipline at home, they brag about staying out all night and the drugs they do, how is this my fault? How do I tell my family that they might lose there home because the students I have this year just didn't learn enough and daddy only got half the pay he did last year.
All of you rethuglican politicians should take a really long look in the mirror and maybe you'll see the evil that lurks there. I think the Bible says something about worshiping false idols well from what I see you all worship mammon and there is a hot reception waiting for you where your headed.

[Teach]

Myth: teaching is a noble profession
Fact: to be a teacher today requires antidepressants to handle a thankless job.

Myth: student performance is a reflection of the teacher's ability to teach.
Fact: student performance is in PART of teacher's ability to teach AND attendance, parent support, and behavior

Myth: teacher salaries can support a family
Fact: teacher salaries are far below other professions that require college degrees and many of us need to work a 2nd job just to make ends-meat.

Myth: Salaries compensate for time served
Fact: When hourly wage is calculated into the amount of hours needed to complete all job related tasks, we make the same as a cashier at Wal-Mart

Myth: bad teachers CAN be fired
Fact: administrators are scared to face the union and create waves. (straight from the mouth of an admin.)

Myth: evaluations are fair
Fact: evaluations are subjective to your personal friendship with your administrator.

These facts seem to have been omitted in this "informative" report.

[Pat Connolly, who is an employee of DSBPC, but is speaking as a private citizen]

Another one of their "myths"and their version of the "facts" is an out-and-out LIE.
They claim that "(t)he bill cuts teacher pay" is a myth. The "facts" they raise to counter that claim are the aspects of the bill which MAY increase SOME teachers' pay. They totally ignore those aspects of the bill which will ENSURE that MOST of our valued teachers who have dedicated their lives to education WILL HAVE THEIR PAY CUT. The only way this is not true is if the legislature has found a money tree.
This legislation ELIMINATES experience and degree as factors in pay. A rookie with a Bachelor's degree will be paid the same as a 20-year veteran with a Master's or even a PhD. The only way that the Foundation's claim is not a LIE is if somehow they find enough money to pay the rookie as much as the veteran. And what are the chances of that?

[murph]

This bill will absolutely cut teacher pay! SB6 has no provision to pay for these reforms, instead will require, as usual, the districts to fund them. Guess where all this extra money is going to come from. That's right teachers salaries. There is no where else to take the money from, thanks the Republican lead legislature there is no extra money to be had, it has to come from our salaries. There is also no such thing a tenure in the state of Florida, we are not guaranteed a job for life, we have to renew our certificates every five years and we are evaluated annually. It is on the administration to man up and make the hard calls, which they don't. Don't punish me because a principal is too nice to mark a teacher unsatisfactory.

[Pat Connolly, who is an employee of DSBPC, but is speaking as a private citizen]

Let's take a look at one of their stated "myths" - "The current process for evaluating teachers is fine the way it is."
This is a straw man argument, which in no way supports the need for the draconian measures in this bill.
No one that I know of thinks this. We all know that the current teacher evaluation process is flawed. So many teachers are rated "satisfactory" because there are only two choices, satisfactory and unsatisfactory, so many teachers who probably deserve a "needs improvement" evaluation get "satisfactory".
But is the need for improvements in the evaluation system a justification for all the radical changes called for in this legislation?
If we follow this logic and apply it to cars, if the tires on your car are wearing incorrectly because you need an alignment, then you should junk your car and buy a new one.

[Pat Connolly, who is an employee of DSBPC, but is speaking as a private citizen]

Perhaps my reading skills are deficient, but the article states, "It's too tough to fire bad teachers and the law needs major change, the foundation states." But then I read their list of "myths" and "facts" (really unsubstantiated claims, for the most part) and I don't see anything relating to why "(i)t's too tough to fire bad teachers."

[IsEEdUMBpEOPLE]

"Teachers can’t control what their students know when they show up on the first day of school, but they do influence what they learn during the year in their class."

This statement disregards the fact that all the negative influences the poor performing students are subject to continue to be influences through the current school year...teachers can only do so much and no test driven evaluation system can account for these HUGE (non-school related) factors that will influence a group of students.
I could name 20 things off the top of my head that have nothing to do with school at all, but would affect a student enough to make any test taking statistics completely invalid.

What a bunch of tripe they are selling.

[3210]

Well,when they put it that way... WHO WOULD DARE TO ARGUE? Teaching will no longer be a profession--just a job. Who's going to invest four years to pursue a degree that is so specialized for such instability and disreguard. Good Job, Jeb!

[Say no to Senate Bill 6]

The FCAT has a direct correlation to the student's socio-economic level. Middle school has new and different standards to teach in each course, not the same as the outdated 10 year old test. FCAT is not aligned to the new standards. How do you judge, then pay a social studies or art teacher? This is unproven Jeb Bush's politics, not real research.

[terminator]

Jeb SUCKS.

Let's send him packing back to Texas where he can hang with his failure of an older brother W!

JUST SAY NO TO JEB and EVIL REPUBLICANS LIKE THRASHER WHO SEEK TO DESTROY PUBLIC EDUCATION.