- April 19, 2024
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It’s official: Teacher pay will be tied to student performance, starting 2014.
Gov. Rick Scott signed into law his first bill of office last week — Senate Bill 736, which creates a performance-based pay system for Florida teachers and terminates tenure for new hires. The bill will go into effect in 2014.
Unlike a similar bill which was vetoed by former Gov. Charlie Crist last year, Senate Bill 736 is much less stringent, according to Flagler County Race to the Top Director Stuart Maxcy.
“(The bill) has been revamped,” Maxcy said, “doesn’t have quite as many mandates … Race to the Top and Senate Bill 736 are very similar.”
Based on a three-year evaluation average, teachers will be judged 49% on observation and 51% on student growth, according to Maxcy. Growth will be evaluated based on comparing year-to-year scoring on state tests and other exams.
If a teacher records two consecutive years or three out of five years of unsatisfactory growth, “you’re done,” Maxcy said.
By summer, the state will announce what growth numbers will be considered satisfactory.
“It’s a cultural shift, I will admit that,” Rep. Bill Proctor said. “But I think it’s a healthy one. And I think there’s a lot of scare tactics going on that are scaring a lot of teachers unnecessarily ... After the smoke clears, the vast majority of teachers … won’t see any threat.”
Proctor made a sharp distinction between merit- and performance-based models — the former deals in incentives for effectiveness while the latter decides which teachers receive raises and reappointments.
“Most studies show no appreciable difference (in effectiveness in a merit-based system),” he said.
According to Proctor, by taking tenure off the table for new hires, teachers will be held to a higher standard.
“We know that the bulk of teachers are good teachers,” he said. “(But) the research seems to support … that there’s a band of teachers that need to improve.”
He believes that Senate Bill 736 will encourage that improvement. Also, currently tenured teachers under a professional services contract will not be required to participate in the performance-based program.
In 2014, performance-based models will become the Florida standard; until then, tenured Flagler County teachers can opt to be grandfathered into their current pay steps. If they choose the performance route, salary potential increases, but tenure is taken away. Like all Flagler teachers hired after July of this year, they would be switched to annual contracts.
“I don’t think (the bill) is going to put so much pressure on (teachers),” Proctor said, “because the great teachers are going to go right on teaching great and do fine. The ones who need to improve, there might be a little more pressure on them … and that’s good. If there is pressure, that’s where it should be — on the ones that need to improve.”
As for tenure, Proctor doesn’t see the need. “I’ve been in the profession 54 years,” he said. “I’ve never had tenure.”
The new system decides which teachers will be laid off, if layoffs are necessary, and outlaws the “last in, first out” seniority policy; and it gives raises to “highly effective” teachers rather than those with the most degrees or years teaching.
“If we know that there are great teachers out there,” Proctor said, “… if there is extra money in the salary system, isn’t that where we ought to put the money?”
With help from a four-year grant worth nearly $1 million, Flagler County has been preparing for this shift since last December, through the Race to the Top initiative. Instead of working merely reacting to state regulations, Maxcy has been planning with teachers and administration.
“(So) we kind of get to do it our way,” he said. “It can be very controversial, but Flagler County is lucky that we work very good together as a team,”
Though Senate Bill 736 won’t go into effect until 2014, Race to the Top will begin evaluations next school year, by analyzing growth through FCAT scores.
