Representative Proctor is either cluelss or thinks we are

With all due respect to Representative Proctor the “Teacher Merit Pay” bill which could have been called the “teaching profession killing bill.” Is he clueless or does he think we are? If this bill is so good for teachers why are they overwhelmingly against it? This is just a bad, bad bill and the reasons are many.

First the evidence overwhelmingly shows merit pay does not work. Teaching is a lot more complex than pay the best and fire the rest but Proctor, Wise and others will have you believe it is. Don’t we want our reforms based on things that work, not catch phrases designed to excite the masses?

It doesn’t get rid of teacher’s tenure because they never had it. Instead it gets rid of teacher’s right to due process and makes them at will employees. Mr. Proctor says most employees are at will and that quite frankly is not true. Most shops union and otherwise have some protections for employees that pass a probationary period. This bill in effect puts teachers in a permanent probationary status. You know whom this bill will affect, teachers who question, teachers who don’t want to take on extra assignments and teachers for whatever reason administrators don’t like. Regardless if they are good or not they will now all be in a position where they can be summarily let go.

The bill creates billions in unfunded mandates that will suck money out of schools to the private sector. Tests are not just going to be developed and create themselves. Then where is the merit pay going to come from? Scott is about to cut 3 billion from education and most districts are already experiencing severe budget issues.

It increases testing, which is already many feel is already sucking the life out of education. Also how are we going to have fair tests for the arts (if any survive) and for ESOL and ESE teachers?

It will make finding good young teachers harder to do and older teachers harder to retain. Most new teachers now don’t last five years. Fewer and fewer teachers are making it a career, this bill will exacerbate that trend also how are people going to make life decisions if they have no idea what their finances are going to look like?

And where are we going to find teachers to work at our struggling schools, you think the turnover is high now well in a few years they will be devoid of teachers all together, why would anybody want to go there knowing they could be fired in a heartbeat. In Hillsborough county only three percent of the teachers in their most struggling schools were eligible for merit pay.

Then the number one reason the bill is bad it will be unfair to a colleague of mine. My colleague is the best teacher at my school and has been so since the day I walked through the doors. Not only is he a friend and mentor to all but he provides excellent instruction and guidance to his students. He goes above and beyond and he hasn’t received merit pay once. I am no gift to teaching and I have received it but he hasn’t. He is not a self-promoter, he just shows up and does his job and it doesn’t help that he teaches a non f-cat subject to nontraditional kids. This bill will not help him nor will it make his life easier. Any bill that makes his life harder is a loser.

This bill is designed to do one thing and reward the best teachers it isn’t. It is designed to further handicap public education so Scott, Wise, Proctor and their ilk can drain more money away into the private sector. This is about how their friends can make a buck.

Representative Proctor this is a bad, bad bill and you should be ashamed of yourself not just for supporting it but for trying to present that it is anything but such. You won sir, you helped pass the bill and your letter is not just like rubbing salt in the wound of all current and future teachers but it shows just how out of touch you are.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher