It is a tough time to be a teacher

From the Orlando Sentinel

By Leslie Postal

It's a tough time to be a public school teacher in Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott wants to make public employees contribute to their pensions, which would amount to a 5 percent pay cut for teachers.

Lawmakers are again pushing to adopt a merit-pay bill that would overhaul how teachers are evaluated and paid — relying heavily on tests to judge their quality — and end tenure for new instructors. It's a effort similar to last year's, which was widely criticized by teachers as unworkable and unfair.

As Florida's economy continues to struggle, another round of state budget cuts loom, which could force school districts to again freeze salaries, reduce programs and even layoff employees.

And many teachers say the message underlying Tallahassee's reform drumbeat is that public education and the state's more than 182,000 teachers are failing.

"It does paint a picture that a lot of us don't have a clue what we're doing, that we're not preparing kids for their futures," said Tom Beard, an American government teacher at Winter Park High School in Orange County.

"In another profession, people would quit," Beard said. "Pay you less, demand you do more with a higher result and not give you the tools to find success? That's not the deal I signed up for."

Beard this fall launched an advocacy group, Let's Reform Education, to try "to give teachers a voice" in the reform discussion.

A 16-year veteran, Beard said he still loves teaching and still feels proud of what he does but added that the current climate wears on teachers.

"There will be teachers who leave. I promise you," he said.

Ellen Baker, a teacher at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach County, is already thinking about exiting the profession she entered a decade ago.

"Teaching is so hard, and they are trying to take the fun out of it, diminishing our benefits and wanting us to do more for the same or less pay," Baker said. "It's outrageous that I am not valued as the empathetic, compassionate, professional teacher I started out as and am trying to cling to."

Even if she and others don't leave, she thinks recruitment of new teachers will be hard in the coming year. "The morale of those of us in the trenches will make encouragement scarce as well," she added.

Private sector employees may not have much sympathy for teachers as performance pay and employee contributions to pension plans are standard practice at many companies, where raises also have been scarce in a stagnant economy.

In announcing his pension plan proposal this week, Scott said it was "only fair" that public employees pay what those in the private sector do.

But Andrew Spar, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization, said the governor's argument unfairly equates the work of people who aren't paid equally.

"While teachers have a decent pension in the state of Florida, it's been what's held up as to why we don't get paid so much," Spar said.

Many teachers said the reform efforts seem driven by, in their view, a false idea that teaching is just like work in a for-profit business. They also don't understand the message from state leaders that public education must be overhauled, given Florida's nationally recognized school improvements in the past decade.

"Their attempt is to convince the public that public education is horrible, and it's not," said Gay Parker, president of the Seminole Education Association.

Teachers are "frightened" about what's coming, she said. "I'm not sure there is anything left for them to attack," Parker added. "I think they've covered it all."

C.J. Allen, who teaches at an alternative school in Volusia County, said she felt torn when her daughter, a senior at Stetson University, told her she wanted to be a teacher, too.

"I feel horrible as a parent saying, 'don't go into it,' " she said. "I have loved this career. I eat, sleep and breathe it."

But Allen said she fears for her profession. "It's a devolution. We're going backwards."

Sharon Hepburn, a fifth-grade teacher at Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Fort Lauderdale, followed her father's advice — "do something you love, don't do it for money" — when she became a teacher 15 years ago.

But now she isn't sure her family can afford her choice anymore. She hasn't had a raise in three years and pays $1,300 month for her family's health insurance through the Broward County school district.

Taking 5 percent of her pay to fund her retirement just might tip the balance.

"For what I'm making, I really could be a secretary in someone's office, go to my job, punch in, punch out and go home," she said. "No more taking my work home with me."

Even before the pension plan was announced this week, many teachers were worried about education reforms likely to be pushed by the Florida Legislature this spring, particularly a merit-pay plan. Many teachers aren't convinced there is a fair way to judge teachers based on student test-score data.

"Have you ever noticed all these politicians who talk about what to do to fix education were never teachers themselves?" said Mike Sciotto, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Walker Middle in Orange County.

Melvin Ficklin, an eighth grade math teacher at River Springs Middle School in Volusia, strongly dislikes both the merit-pay and pension proposals – but still loves teaching.

"I'm in my 39th year, and you don't do something that long, if you don't love it," said Ficklin, who worked as a teacher and principal in Indiana before moving to Florida six years ago.

"I think it's a very rewarding and noble profession, and I think we need good teachers. But I certainly understand why some shy away from it when there's unrest and uncertainly as there is now."

Marc Freeman and Rafael Olmeda from the Sun-Sentinel contributed to this story. Leslie Postal can be reached at lpostal@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273.