Senate bill 736 an unfunded monster

From Naples News.com

Construction paper posters hang on the walls of the Collier County Education Association meeting room.

On one poster, a red line slashes through the number 736.

The red faded posters are a reminder of the teachers union’s failed attempt to fight state legislators last year on a bill that changed the way teachers do their job and get compensated for their work.

Collier County teachers may have stopped fighting. But the Florida Education Association, which represents 65 of the 67 Florida teachers’ unions including Collier and Lee counties, has not.

“This thing is a monster. It’s unfunded,” said Jonathan Tuttle, executive director for the Collier teachers union.

On Sept. 14, the Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit on behalf of teachers throughout the state saying SB 736 violates the Florida constitution.

The Collier teachers union supports the lawsuit, but Tuttle said even if the Florida Education Association is unsuccessful, the bill may come “crashing down on its own.”

The law revised the evaluation, compensation and employment practices for teachers and instructional personnel. It tied evaluations based on student performance such as Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores and classroom observations to performance pay in 2014. It eliminated professional services contracts – tenure-like job security – for all teachers hired after July 1. Teacher contracts must be re-evaluated every year.

It also dictated that districts cannot use advanced degrees to set salary schedules unless the degree is held in the teacher’s area of certification.

“So where does a master’s in curriculum fall?” Tuttle asked in reference to a biology or English teacher who receives a master’s in leadership or other degree not directly linked to a teacher’s area of certification.

Are teachers in Florida paid enough? Yes.. No.. I don't know..

No amount of money could compensate for what teachers do..

State leaders and the Collier school district see it another way. To them, the law aims to raise the caliber of Florida teachers and reward success.

Being a teacher is no longer just enough to guarantee a steadily increasing salary. Being an excellent, highly effective teacher is what does.

District administrators said that this isn’t a negative change. They say maybe it’s actually a step in the right direction to improve a struggling Florida educational system.

“The overall intent is positive,” said Michele LaBute, chief instructional officer with the district.

It’s an outlook that many other professionals face yearly or monthly. Perform well and an employee keeps his or her job. Consistently underperform, and the bonus or even the job comes into question.

LaBute explained that prior to the law, a teacher’s contract was automatically renewed unless the teacher had performance issues. But LaBute said that unless an administrator found a teacher to be incompetent, insubordinate or immoral, the contract would be renewed every year.

“It’s really hard to document incompetence. Someone could not be performing to the standard you expect for students but they’re not completely incompetent,” LaBute said.

She explained that even with those standards, a teacher’s job under the old contract still would be safe.

“The new evaluation system we have, especially the instructional practice part, will be a real benefit to teaching and learning,” LaBute said.

Even so, the Florida Education Association contends the law is unconstitutional because it denies teachers their right to effective collective bargaining on wages and the terms and conditions of employment.

Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the association, said the law substantially changed wages, employment contracts, performance evaluations, promotions and workforce provisions that previously were negotiated between teachers and local schools districts.

Depending on the success of this lawsuit, Pudlow said, it could be the first of many.

Teachers’ fears and frustration stem from politicians hundreds of miles away imposing mandates and making decisions that should be done at the local level, Tuttle said.

“It’s really hard to document incompetence. Someone could not be performing to the standard you expect for students but they’re not completely incompetent,” said Michele LaBute, chief instructional officer with the district.

“Maybe this system really is terrific. We don’t know,” he said. “But we’re so concerned with complying with state mandates rather than identifying how to improve.”

LaBute said the pressure of state mandates that come without financial support and little local control is a heavy burden.

“Something as complicated as this ... there are challenges to implementation,” she said.

LaBute pointed to creating two different salary schedules, dividing current and new teachers. She said the second challenge is developing a fair and consistent evaluation system across all levels.

To teachers, the law is the exact opposite of what they have always known.

Existing teachers have the option of remaining on their professional services contract or moving to the performance pay schedule. Teachers hired after July 1 have to be on the performance pay schedule.

“We’ve developed the system and now we need to monitor it,” LaBute said. “We have to watch the data and make sure that it’s statistically sound.”

Being a guinea pig for statistically sound data doesn’t sound reassuring to teachers when their salary is on the line.

Matt Williamson, a second-grade teacher at Eden Park Elementary, said that’s why so many teachers are opting to stay on the professional services contract. Teachers don’t trust the new evaluation system yet.

Karen Pelletieri, a fourth-grade teacher at Pelican Marsh Elementary, said there are too many variables in student performance to place the results of a test all on a teacher. Pelletieri said she’s never believed in performance pay.

Added Tuttle: “Teaching is much more than administering a particular test on a particular day. On any given day, students are presented with a variety of challenges.”

He said a student’s personal challenges shouldn’t reflect a teacher’s pay.

Others say the law is “putting teachers against teachers.”

Mindy Myers, a sixth-grade teacher at Manatee Middle, had been teaching for 27 years. Myers always thought she would be one of those teachers who taught well beyond the 30-year retirement mark.

Now that this new law is in place, Myers said she is counting down the days when she can exit the district and the system.

“I’m hoping things will change in three years so that I don’t have to leave,” she said.

The teachers also argue that the law deters good, effective teachers from applying for jobs in Florida.

“The public should realize it (736) will weaken the type of teacher it is pulling into Florida. What’s the incentive of having experience and of having a master’s if it’s not going to benefit you?” asked Dorothy Lawrence, a fifth-grade teacher at Manatee Elementary.

So what happens if the Florida Education Association is successful and the law is reversed?

Collier union leader Tuttle said teachers would be grateful that the system is going back to what teachers have always known. He said the district and the union would meet once again at the bargaining table.

And when asked if the old evaluation system and traditional salary step schedule needed to be revamped regardless of 736, neither the district nor the union really had an answer.

Both expressed that leaving that decision up to the local districts would have been better for teachers and the district.

Tuttle said teacher evaluation systems and pay scales are complex, and that politicians really shouldn’t be writing them.

But without politicians and state mandates, would a change have taken place, even if it was needed?

The end goal, whether it comes from state politicians, teachers or local district administrators, is for Florida students to come out of school better educated.

To politicians in Tallahassee, achieving that end goal started with SB 736 – changing the way teachers do their job and receive compensation for it.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/oct/01/teacher-merit-pay-SB-736-lawsuit-Florida-Education/