September 16, 2011
Florida’s teacher union is suing the state over a new law that requires merit pay and ends tenure for new hires, one of a number passed nationwide changing how teachers are evaluated.
The Florida Education Association contends that SB 736, which was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in March, is unconstitutional because it substantially changes how teachers are paid and evaluated while denying instructors their right to collective bargaining.
“The provisions of SB 736 radically transform the teaching profession – and not for the better,” said Cory Williams, a middle school teacher included in the lawsuit. “The expertise and knowledge of teachers have been ignored throughout this process and our constitutional rights have been trampled.”
The FEA and the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Circuit Court in Tallahassee on behalf of teachers statewide. Florida’s law is one of several passed this past year that weaken or eliminate tenure and create new ways for evaluating teachers, most of which deem a teacher “effective” based on how well students do on tests.
Florida appears to be the only state, however, that is requiring merit pay statewide. Other states are working to create effective evaluation systems first and encouraging districts to implement pilot performance pay models, rather than including it as a requirement, said Michelle Exstrom, education program principal at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Florida always has been ahead of the curve when it comes to the merit pay issue,” Exstrom said. “They’ve just struggled to do it in a way that’s most effective for their teachers and their students.
And I think a lot of states have looked at Florida’s struggles and said, ‘You know what, it’s not clear cut how to make this work.’”
The lawsuit marks the 11th lawsuit this year to target either Scott or a policy he supported. A Scott spokesman defended the law on Wednesday and said he is confident it is legal.
“Regular working folks don’t have tenure. Why should bad teachers?” spokesman Lane Wright said. “Gov. Scott is looking out for students — making sure they get the best teachers in the classroom, while the special-interest teachers union is looking out for bad teachers who pay their union dues.”
The Foundation for Excellence in Education, founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, issued a statement critical of the union for caring “more about protecting political power than promoting a dynamic, highly-skilled workforce of educators.”
FEA is already involved in ongoing lawsuits against the state relating to changes to state employee pension plans and a proposed constitutional amendment relating to tax funds used for religious institutions.
The law passed last spring is similar to one former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed during his Senate campaign after widespread teacher protests. It requires teachers hired after July 1, 2014, to be placed on a performance salary schedule. Teachers will be given one of four performance ratings, 50 percent of which must be based on data regarding student growth, including scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. It also gets rid of provisions which allow districts to prioritize teachers with seniority during layoffs.
Republicans say a test-based merit pay plan will help attract and keep top teachers, but opponents of the law say it will have the opposite effect – discouraging new and veteran teachers from staying in Florida, knowing the role student test scores will have on whether or not they keep their jobs.
Miami-Dade district officials said they would continue to work to implement changes required by the law, even as the legal contest started Wednesday.
"Law always prevails til it’s overruled by a court," said Enid Weisman, the Miami-Dade assistant superintendent for human resources and performance management.
"In the absence of that happening, the statute is the statute for now. We go forward with it."
Broward Teachers Union President Pat Santeramo issued the following statement: “Education leaders have repeatedly told the governor and legislators that research demonstrates merit pay will not produce the results they are seeking. We know adequately funding public schools and reducing class sizes increases student learning outcomes.”
Officials with the state Department of Education said they intend to defend the new law.
“Although we have not been served yet, we believe strongly in the new law and its focus on improving student achievement, recognizing our most effective teachers and identifying teachers who would benefit from additional professional development opportunities,” said Thomas Butler, a department spokesman.
There is a growing consensus that teacher evaluations need to reformed; until recently, they have largely been based on a principal’s observations. But how to judge whether a teacher is “effective,” and what role merit pay should play in that, is still under considerable debate.
A study by Vanderbilt University last year, for example, found that students of middle school math teachers who were offered a bonus pay if they made larger gains on standardized tests performed no better than those without the extra compensation. Dale Ballou, an associate professor who worked on the study, said overall, the studies on merit pay have been mixed.
“What we don’t really have much is evidence at the teacher level, that these things have made a great difference,” Ballou said.
The lawsuit echoes union fights under way in Wisconsin and Ohio, where public workers have been stripped of most of their ability to collectively bargain. No such law has been passed in Florida, but the teachers union says the Legislature changed wages, employment contracts, performance evaluations, promotions and workforce reduction provisions that had been negotiated between teachers and school districts in the past.
“Even though the states are different, the governors seem to be acting out of the same playbook,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Miami Herald staff writer Laura Isensee and Herald/Times staff writer Katie Sanders contributed to this report.