The republican party has been in complete control of education policy for over twenty years, and last week they admitted they had failed over and over again with teacher pay and curriculum but they still want even more bites at the apple.
Florida routinely ranks near the bottom on education investment and their systematic, criminal neglect of education had led to a teacher shortage crisis. DeSantis acknowledged that last week, so I guess that's something but unfortunately he made a laughable attempt to address it.
From the Tallahassee Democrat,
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday his intention to lean on the Florida Legislature to bump the starting minimum teacher’s salary to $47,500. Currently, the starting state salary is $37,636, according to the National Education Association.
The announcement comes with more questions than answers, Leon Classroom Teachers Association President Scott Mazur said.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/10/07/more-questions-than-answers-following-gov-desantis-teacher-pay-increase-announcement/3897453002/
His proposal left out 76 thousand veteran teachers and proposed paying first year teachers as much as 16 or 17th year teachers.
Yet to give the devil his due DeSantis at least acknowledged the problem even if he didn't make a serious attempt to address it.
Then later in the week they announced a listening tour because they want to change Florida's standards, the fifth time they will have done so since they took over Tallahassee.
From the Sunshine State News,
From the Orlando Sentinel,
WINTER SPRINGS — Florida’s Common Core academic standards are demanding but also are helping students make gains while the state’s proposed replacements are weaker, vaguer and represent a “step backwards” for public education, educators told state leaders at a “Florida Standards Listening Tour” event.
More than a dozen teachers and administrators, most from Seminole County but a few from neighboring Orange and Volusia counties, on Tuesday evening urged the state not to make significant changes to Florida’s current language arts and math benchmarks or to adopt the less-demanding replacements the state has drafted.
“This lowering of expectations will lead to gaps in our students’ learning,” said Pamela Ferrante, a literacy specialist for the Seminole school district. "These changes are a step backwards.”
Other speakers at the Florida Department of Education event, held at Seminole’s Winter Springs High School, agreed.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-common-core-listening-tour-seminole-20191009-dqpwok67tzgklogw2xv4tvsnxa-story.html
It's unknown if Corcoran will listen to the states teachers but if past is prologue we can be assured of one thing, it's he will do whatever will make his donors the most money.
Republicans have failed time and time again, even with choice where nearly 600 charter schools have taken public money and failed and voucher schools that have no accountability and can teach junk classes by people without degrees.
They have criminally underfunded public ed, created a teacher shortage and changed standards more often than the country changes presidents but still they are in charge. Welcome to Floriduh, where one political party has failed up.
Florida routinely ranks near the bottom on education investment and their systematic, criminal neglect of education had led to a teacher shortage crisis. DeSantis acknowledged that last week, so I guess that's something but unfortunately he made a laughable attempt to address it.
From the Tallahassee Democrat,
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday his intention to lean on the Florida Legislature to bump the starting minimum teacher’s salary to $47,500. Currently, the starting state salary is $37,636, according to the National Education Association.
The announcement comes with more questions than answers, Leon Classroom Teachers Association President Scott Mazur said.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/10/07/more-questions-than-answers-following-gov-desantis-teacher-pay-increase-announcement/3897453002/
His proposal left out 76 thousand veteran teachers and proposed paying first year teachers as much as 16 or 17th year teachers.
Yet to give the devil his due DeSantis at least acknowledged the problem even if he didn't make a serious attempt to address it.
Then later in the week they announced a listening tour because they want to change Florida's standards, the fifth time they will have done so since they took over Tallahassee.
From the Sunshine State News,
This week, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced the latest stops in his Florida Standards Listening Tour, which will start in the coming days, giving the public another chance to weigh in on what should replace Common Core in the Sunshine State.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order at the start of the year to eliminate Common Core in Florida, he also called on Corcoran to review and revise the standard by January 2020.
“The revised draft was crafted based on feedback the Department of Education received over the last several months from Florida teacher experts, national experts and the education community,” the Education Department noted this week. “In addition to the listening tour, the public can submit feedback on each of the second draft standards individually at floridastandardsreview.org or email at standardsreview@fldoe.org.”
The thing is Florida's teachers aren't calling for a replacement, they are calling for a tweaking.From the Orlando Sentinel,
WINTER SPRINGS — Florida’s Common Core academic standards are demanding but also are helping students make gains while the state’s proposed replacements are weaker, vaguer and represent a “step backwards” for public education, educators told state leaders at a “Florida Standards Listening Tour” event.
More than a dozen teachers and administrators, most from Seminole County but a few from neighboring Orange and Volusia counties, on Tuesday evening urged the state not to make significant changes to Florida’s current language arts and math benchmarks or to adopt the less-demanding replacements the state has drafted.
“This lowering of expectations will lead to gaps in our students’ learning,” said Pamela Ferrante, a literacy specialist for the Seminole school district. "These changes are a step backwards.”
Other speakers at the Florida Department of Education event, held at Seminole’s Winter Springs High School, agreed.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-common-core-listening-tour-seminole-20191009-dqpwok67tzgklogw2xv4tvsnxa-story.html
It's unknown if Corcoran will listen to the states teachers but if past is prologue we can be assured of one thing, it's he will do whatever will make his donors the most money.
Republicans have failed time and time again, even with choice where nearly 600 charter schools have taken public money and failed and voucher schools that have no accountability and can teach junk classes by people without degrees.
They have criminally underfunded public ed, created a teacher shortage and changed standards more often than the country changes presidents but still they are in charge. Welcome to Floriduh, where one political party has failed up.
The governor is crazy if he thinks he can pay a first-year teacher more than what some 15-year instructors make. Also, this is the kind of crap that will make the situation worse. If I am forced to train someone who makes more than me and has zero experience, I am walking and so will many of my peers. Also, this salary noise does not even account for all of the extra hours that teachers currently work without pay. Also, many teachers will be forced to keep on working beyond retirement because the current salaries do not support a decent income into retirement; the pay is based on some 1950's formula and is unacceptable. I guess we should buy candles or hope we can snag a good wife, husband, or partner before retirement. Nevertheless, when you run into the kid that can't read or write, don't blame it on public school teachers - blame it on the charter school teachers who don't teach the rigor needed for academic success. Also blame it on Republicans because they are the ones that are pushing good teachers out of the slave market guised as the teaching profession!
ReplyDelete