At some point the FEA's inaction becomes complicity (draft)

I am a union guy, strike that I am a proud union guy but at some point the FEA's inaction becomes complicity.

Fedrick Ingram was on the radio program First Coast Connect where he started by saying, this was a step forward and the governor should be applauded.

https://news.wjct.org/post/10919-teacher-pay-hike-mental-health-first-aid-tracking-hispanic-business

Um what? No, he should be outraged. He should scream at the top of his lungs that any proposal that leaves out 76k teachers and does nothing for veteran teachers who have seen their salaries go backwards is a non starter. He should say no scream this outrages and insults us.

DeSantis wasn't being serious, he was grasping for a headline and he deserves ridicule not applause. He isn't trying to help teachers, he is trying to divide them.

If Ingram thinks we are having a policy debate and that Tallahassee is interested in solving the problem, one they created and routinely exacerbate, then we need to get Ingram out of there.  How does he not understand that Tallahassee has two goals in mind, one replace public ed with a 
hodgepodge of voucher schools and charters and two, to destroy the teaching profession. 

Fedrick can we talk here? They don't care about doing the right thing. They don't care about helping teachers either, but they might care about a strike and before you or anybody whines it's illegal, it was illegal in West Virginia too and good luck firing 80 thousand of us.

This is the crazy thing too, I bet most supers and school boards would go along with it because they know how harmful Tallahassee has been to public ed and unlike Fedrick apparently they know there is no end in site. 

What are we waiting for? Because if we wait to much longer there won't be anything left. 

If we can't strike it doesn't matter how many red for ed t-shirts we wear, letters to the editor we write or rallies in Talley we have because the republicans that run the show aren't moved by things like decency, fairness and what's right for teachers and students and I for one would like somebody to challenge the law that says we can't strike. What are we waiting for friends, the house is already on fire and that noise you hear is Tallahassee fiddling.   

A little history of teachers not being able to strike in Florida, Wusfnews,

http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/its-been-50-years-florida-teachers-went-strike-today-its-illegal-them-do-so

Some of you might be saying its against the law to strike in Florida, well if you haven't noticed laws when it comes to education don't mean much here. Look at how the class size amendment has been so gutted it is nearly unrecognizable. earlier this year when the supreme court threw out the fund our schools lawsuit, despite the constitution saying it was the states paramount duty, they basically said, constitution, schmostitution. Also we are supposed to have a uniform education system, well friends, billions on vouchers and charters at the expense of public education is far from uniform.

Tallahassee is dismantling public ed and the pace has quickened, and they are no longer doing it behind closed doors.

It's passed time we did something and step one should be to see if those laws preventing strikes are legal.

We have to do something because time is rapidly running out.

Is DeSantis planning to take away district's rights to negotiate teacher salaries?

Governor DeSantis and Education Commissioner Corcoran announced while visiting a school in Middleburg that they wanted to raise beginning teacher salary to 47,500 moving Florida from 26th to second in the nation in that category. Sounds great right? Accept the devils in the details and there are a lot of devils in the few details he announced. 

First the governor said his proposal would give 100 thousand teachers a raise. Well a big problem there is Florida has over 175 thousand public school teachers. Florida's veteran teachers who have seen their salaries actually go backwards over the last decade would get nothing from the governors headline grabbing proposal.

Then the governor did not mention how he planned to pay for his proposal which was estimated to cost about six hundred million dollars. Now he could find some of that money by ending the nearly universally reviled and ridiculed best and brightest bonus that originally used teachers SAT scores but later changed into a complicated formula factoring an entire schools growth scores. Both versions left out thousands of effective and highly effective teachers. Furthermore the speaker of the Florida House Jose Olivia didn't seem to enthusiastic as he said like all the governors proposals the house would consider it.  

Another large flaw in the plan is the state cannot determine teacher salaries as it violates their collective bargaining rights. Salaries are something by law Districts and teacher's representatives, their unions negotiate for. Now I guess if the governor does find the funding and pass something through he could also pass another law stripping districts of their power to negotiate salaries but I am not sure if the legislature would have the appetite for that during an election year.  

I also don't think just raising salaries will make that much of a difference. Not with teachers being stripped of autonomy, creativity, and work protections and forced to endue runaway accountability on steroids. Pay is a big problem, but its not the only big problem if you know what I mean. 

If DeSantis were serious about attracting new teachers and keeping veterans, he would insist the state legislature add a thousand dollars to the per pupil formula, which would take us to about a 2007 level of spending, that's right friends we would have to add a gran to get back to 12 year old spending levels, and let unions and districts hammer it out. I bet they wouldn't exclude veteran teachers or support staff many of whom don't make a living wage. Instead of coming up with a serious solution however, DeSantis went with a headline, that leaves out 40 percent of teachers, the house isn't behind and that legally he can't initiate.  

We need serious solutions and we need serious people to come up with them. A governor who uses smoke an mirrors and is only looking for a photo op and headlines does a disservice and does nothing to help the problem.

Florida's teachers, some of the worst paid and most put upon in the nation deserve better, all of them, not just a few of them.

The city council votes to spend up to 1.85 million on lawyer

Remember when several members of the City Council balked at the around a million dollar cost of a special election for the referendum? An amount I remind you they were never going to pay as the district said it would assume the costs. Well I guess money's not that tight after all as they just voted to spend up to 1.85 million on a lawyer to represent them in the JEA sale. 

From Florida Politics,

The Jacksonville City Council is prepared to spend up to $1.85 million to hire outside lawyers to represent its interests in a potential sale of utility JEA...

...Council President Scott Wilson is no attorney, but attorneys on the Council had insight.

“I know some attorneys, some firms that would be great,” was Wilson’s characterization of his colleagues’ feelings.

It’s going to be a potpourri of billable hours for multiple firms, if discussion Tuesday afternoon in the Council agenda meeting is any indication.

“It’s going to be more than one counsel,” cautioned Randy DeFoor, given the need for lawyers who focus on issues ranging.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/307824-jacksonville-city-council-set-to-lawyer-up-for-jea-sale

You know, because the OGC doesn't represent their interests.  Also the city council can hire lawyers but the district can't?

If you needed more proof though I couldn't imagine it at this point that the city council's fight against the district was so their donors could get paid, then this 1.85 million for some lawyers should be it.

What happened this summer was an embarrassing farce and we should all be ashamed at city hall. 

Are Corcoran and DeSantis trying to improve teacher salaries or are they just trying to get a head line?

The speaker of the house Jose Olivia seems to be saying they are just looking for a headline.



Um do these guys not talk to each other? The next session doesn't start to March, couldn't he have reached out to Olivia and said, Jose old buddy what do you think?

Nope didn't happen.

These are some things that have happened recently. The state board of education when you factor in inflation recommended a cut to education spending and Senate President Bill Galvano said we're (Florida) doing just great with education spending. Neither of those facts give me much hope that something is going to give and DeSantis going to come through.

Friends we need to strike, and I know they say striking in Florida is illegal, but good luck firing 80 thousand of us and it was illegal other places and prevailed. They don't care about teachers or public school kids and maybe a strike might force them to, despite DeSantis's headline grabbing proposal, the only thing it really was, they aren't interested in doing the right thing.

I asked a question in the title but I think we all know the real answer. 

DeSantis’s pay raise proposal is shameful and we shouldn’t pretend it’s not (draft)

Today with as much fanfare as he could muster, Governor DeSantis announced a teacher raise proposal that has been met with responses ranging from meh to outrage. He wants to raise the starting teacher salary to 47,500 taking Florida from 26th to second. He says over a hundred thousand teachers will get raises. The biggest problem is Florida has over 175 thousand public school teachers and this does between nothing and next to nothing for tens of thousands of veteran teachers who have seen their salaries actually go backwards over the last decade.

From Florida Politics,

 DeSantis noted that 100,000 teachers statewide would get pay bumps, with this proposal that would “take Florida from the bottom half of states” to “the top two in terms of teacher compensation.”...

 …“As Sen. Bradley pointed out during the governor’s Monday morning news conference, Florida needs to not only recruit qualified teachers, but to retain those teachers once they are in our classrooms,” Ingram added. “Looking at the big picture, our students need more than great teachers, and both students and teachers need support.

 “The FEA is waiting to hear how the governor plans to lift this state out of the basement in national rankings on education funding and to ensure that all of our students have the opportunity for a world-class education.”

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/307630-desantis-teacher-compensation

 So to retain qualified teachers, we offer them, um looking at the proposal nothing.

 Also how are they going to pay for it and make sure the funding is available year after year? The state board after you factor in inflation just recommended a pay cut.

 They Governor and the republican party love smoke and mirrors, big productions that turn out to be nothing or far less than promised.

 Increasing starting salary is not going to attract many more teachers to our classrooms, giving teachers autonomy and scaling back punitive testing just might.  

Raising the minimum starting salary isn’t going to stop the exodus either, great I spend nearly two decades in our schools, and now I am making a weekend at Disneyland more than brand new ones.

I feel less motivated after his proposal and I bet I am not the only one.

I have an idea, raise the per pupil allocation by a thousand dollars, getting it back just to 2007 levels and let districts and teachers figure it out. This proposal was meant to grab headlines and divide teachers and nothing else.  

They say the devil is in the details, well friends I bet there are a lot of devils in the details of this proposal.  

Rory Diamond continues his shameless attacks against DCPS

Rory, Rory, Rory, who hurt you, or more to the point who bought you off?

At the recent Beaches Watch meeting, Diamond, lied and spread misinformation, at some point we can't chalk this up to his freshmen ignorance and he has to be held accountable.

First he said, and its right there on his power point, the school board has not under invested in our schools. sheesh. Tallahassee changed the amount districts can collect through millage costing DCPS abut 30 million a year and when you factor in inflation we spend about a grand less than we did in 2007. You can't "under invest" what you don't have.

Next he claims if we do the referendum the district will have 3 billion dollars over the next 15 years but instead of treating that like its something insidious, we should be glad, the district can use it. He also seems to think that if the referendum comes into play, nothing new will break and there won't be any new needs. 

Finally he says DCPS has 22 failing schools, a quick look at the FLDOE site says two, just two DCPS schools got an F last year.

It's time Diamond stopped lying and started helping.

 

Senate President Bill Galvano pours bucket of ice water on the notion of teacher raises

There has been a lot of talk about teacher raises coming out of Tallahassee but if you heard what Senate President Bill Galvano said at a recent meeting you may want to give up any hope.

From the Herald Tribune,

Manatee County School Board Chairman Dave Miner and Manatee Education Association president Patricia Barber both argued that Florida schools are significantly underfunded.

Miner said the inadequate funding is contributing to a big shortage in qualified teachers.

“We gotta change that and I’m asking you to give that a high priority,” Miner said during the meeting, which was held in the Manatee County Commission chambers in downtown Bradenton.

That drew a response from Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who noted that per pupil spending increased by $242 in the current state budget, the largest increase since 2007.

Education spending is “a priority for me in the Senate,” Galvano said...

...“Education funding in this state has not caught up to pre-recession levels,” Barber said, before pointing out that average teacher pay in Florida has actually declined over the last decade when accounting for inflation.

Galvano said after the meeting that he was “very pleased” with the education funding levels approved by the Legislature this year but added that “we still have to continue to work forward on this issue.”

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20191002/education-funding-criticized-at-manatee-legislative-delegation-meeting

Um, we spend about a thousand less per pupil than we did 12 years ago, and Florida is routinely at the bottom of education investments and teacher salary yet somehow Senate President Bob Galvano  is very pleased with the education levels.

Couple that with when you factor in inflation, the State Board of Education recommended a cut in public ed funding and it's hard to see raises coming.

I can see it now, another merit pay bonus scheme is on the horizon because this state government is incapable of doing the right thing. You see friends, Tallahassee doesn't want to fix the problem because they want to destroy the teaching profession, and its way past time we gave up the hope some of us had been holding onto that they would do the right thing. 

Veteran teachers are out tens of thousands of dollars due to salary roll backs.

I am starting my 19th year but I am only on step seventeen. One year I was a full time sub and another year despite there being 120,000,000 in reserves, then superintendent Pratt Dannals declared a financial emergency and steps were waived for a year.

On step 17 I am scheduled to make 47,800 during the 18-19 school year

https://dcps.duvalschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=33769&dataid=59031&FileName=2019-2020%20Salary%20Handbook%208.27.2019.pdf

A teacher in 2005 on step 17 was scheduled to make 41,681 .

 https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/15

Now lets put that amount into the inflation calculator

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Hmm, it says I should be making 54,754 dollars

Hmm my regular calculator says I should be making 6,954 dollars more.  Last year when I did this piece I learned should have been making 4,885 more.

http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2018/07/veteran-duval-teachers-lose-out-on.html

So in the last two years I am out  11,839

Why do I have the feeling what with losing the step in 2010 and the salaries getting smaller and smaller, I am out tens of thousands of dollars more and why do I feel like I am not the only one?

You know I don't blame DTU, I think they have done as good as job as possible with economic issues. You can't squeeze blood out of a rock and I think they have gotten all they can out of DCPS.

I am not mad at DCPS either because Tallahassee has criminally and chronically underfunded education and even if you give them a pass for the great recession, which ended oh about six years ago, they have made scant effort to make up the shortfall. It's Tallahassee that has my ire.

These are facts, when you factor in cost of living, Florida's teachers are the worst paid in the nation.

Florida routinely lacks at or near the bottom in investing in education.

When you factors in inflation, Florida spends about a thousand less per pupil than it did ten years ago.

I am personally out tens of thousands of dollars and if you are a veteran teacher so are you.

To read more, click the link: https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/local-education/lost-decade-how-palm-beach-county-public-schools-cut-pay-for-veteran-teachers/nvhG6M1t6dOnJ9kSrneGxO/

Jason Gabriel says the council can't interfere in other agencies, of for %$#&s sake.

For #@%^s sake, they are just making it up as they go along in the OGC office led by Jason Gabriel who must have got his law degree out of a box of Cracker Jacks.

So City Hall wants to sell JEA despite there being no need to and promises by Curry during the election that he would leave it alone and at first they had frozen the City Council out putting some pretty steep barriers from getting involved.

Now however they are being permitted to hire outside council which is a little befuddling because isn't the OGC supposed to be their legal council? Why would you need an outside council unless like with the school board the OGC is working against them.

So there is a level of crazy there but what Jason Gabriel said blows crazy up. 

From the Florida Times Union,

JEA expects to start negotiating in late October with interested entities and bring a recommendation to the utility’s board in late February. In March, JEA would engage the City Council and the public, according to a timeline given to the JEA board.

Priestly Jackson asked Gabriel whether the council can require JEA to amend the minimum requirements. One change she wants would be a requirement that any deal would fully fund several hundred million dollars of unfunded pension obligations for JEA employees and retirees. Those obligations would become the city’s sole responsibility if there were a deal.

Gabriel said the council cannot require JEA to alter the terms of its solicitation.

“You can’t change something in the mid-stream of a procurement process because there’s an integrity to the process that can’t be tinkered with,” Gabriel said. “You don’t want to mess up what’s there.”

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190930/jacksonville-city-council-eyes-hiring-attorney-for-jea-deal?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=ghf-jax-main

You should really read the entire article. 

Gabriel says they are to far in to change any requirements, like not assuming pension liability. Um has JEA been sold and I didn't notice it. And the council can't interfere in board decisions, um what the absolute $#%^ because this is absolutely what he has said they can do to the school board for months.

As they fight against the school board they are just making stuff up as the go along. This is a travesty what they are doing both with our schools and JEA. 

Rory Diamond and Micheal Boylan vote for an elected super

You know even when Boylan was a public radio guy you knew he was against public ed. He allowed Chartrand to fund their public ed coverage, which is like allowing wolves to fund hen house security and he pushed pro privatization films like School Inc.

Then Rory "only kids in charters have a chance" Diamond is comically uninformed. The beach has some of the best schools in the state yet I guess they are failing if we use his logic. If Gary Chartrand said the sky was orange and puppies weren't cute, Diamond would probably go along.

This vote should have been 7-0 against. Duval has made tremendous progress and very few people outside of Gary Chartrand's last cook out think an elected super is a good idea.

I would say Boylan and Diamond are disappointments, but that is like saying the sky is blue and puppies are cute, everyone already knows it.

To read more, click the link: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/307143-jacksonville-city-council-panel-rejects-elected-school-superintendent-pitch