Audio By Carbonatix
In recent press, Gov. Crist has said that he’s human. That’s what Palm Beach County schoolteachers are counting on as Crist, currently campaigning for the Senate, reviews a bill that would end tenure and hinge teachers’ pay on student performance on standardized tests, mainly the (maligned) FCAT. Crist’s decision will come as early as Thursday or as late as midnight Friday, but in the meantime, the most incensed of recent state educational debates heats up.
“In no other profession do they claim that education means nothing,” says Robert Dow, president of the Palm Beach County Classroom Teacher’s Association. “They’re going to take away pay for all postgrad degrees in higher education. In no other profession do they claim that experience means nothing.”
Dow believes that the merit pay bill is part of a long-term goal to
privatize public education. Senate Bill 2580 pushes a single-provider
health-care network for the entire state that “will go to the lowest
bidder,” Dow says, citing other bills that look to drastically decrease
teachers’ retirement benefits. “It’s just money.
“I actually heard Jeb Bush contend that his organization is the largest charter school organization in the state,” Dow says.
