TU: Teachers unions challenge Florida's merit-pay law in court

[Patricia M. McBride]

 Teachers are supposed to teach and do that job well. Obviously in our fair city, the job is not doing well since so many schools are doing very poorly, so holding teachers accountable for the quality of the job they do makes great sense. Teachers, however, do not wish to be held accountable for doing a good job????

By Matt Dixon

September 14, 2011 - 07:21pm

Teachers unions challenge Florida's merit-pay law in court

Two state teachers unions are challenging legislation passed last spring that eliminates tenure and ties a portion of teachers’ pay to student performance.

“These changes swept away the right of employees to negotiate their wages and terms and conditions of employment, a right that is guaranteed and protected by the Florida Constitution,” said Florida Education Association President Andy Ford.

His group, the largest public employee union in the state, and the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association filed suit Wednesday in Tallahassee. They list six teachers as plaintiffs, including Vicki Hall, president of the St. Johns County teachers union and a speech language pathologist at Osceola Elementary School.

“I’m more than a little angry about changes I’ve seen coming from Tallahassee over the past few years,” Hall said.

She called the changes swept into law this year “radical” and said they are based on limited data and unrealistic timelines.

The new law would tie a third of new teachers’ pay to student performance and limit them to one-year contracts starting in 2014.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2011-09-14/story/teachers-unio...