by David Safier
This is a shocker to me. Florida's legislature passed a bill that "would have abolished tenure for new teachers and instituted strict merit pay guidelines," which teachers and many others oppose mightily. And Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it.
The bill is similar to the one Arizona teachers and others are fighting that will basically make teacher tenure irrelevant. I gave the AEA breakdown of the Arizona bill earlier today. Ours has passed the legislature and is awaiting the Accidental Guv's decision.
The difference is, Crist is running for U.S. Senate and is losing ground in his primary fight. He may be positioning himself to run as an independent, where the polls say his numbers look better. To do that, he's got to look like a moderate. Brewer has to run to the right to keep her conservative cred against her primary challengers for governor.
So what will Brewer do? Unfortunately, I think she's going to sign the anti-teacher legislation. But sometimes the Accidental Guv is the Unpredictable Guv. Let's see if she listens to her better angels on this one or makes the politically expedient move.
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Arizona teachers are all now freelance workers, under a finite contract. The day after the school year ends, no contract = file for unemployment. EVERYTHING work related can be written off taxes. Teachers were only allowed $250 for teacher deductions, now that you’re freelance, all expenditures can be written off. Do you use a room in your house for work? Write-off part of your mortgage. If all teachers make the adjustments to their taxes, they will save a lot of money and the legislature will have a coronary from the loss of revenue.
Governor Brewer:
Please veto HB 2227. This Bill is a public relations nightmare for Republican Party. It’s like a bully kicking a poor little kid when he is already down.
State budget difficulties are requiring school districts to eliminate many teaching jobs, and to also eliminate many of the support staff like Librarians, Counselors, and Vice-Principals. Parents’ attitudes are already going to be very sour since their kids will be in schools with very crowded classrooms, teachers with an even larger work load, and no support staff to help deal with a multitude of small and large problems many students and families deal with. And parents are going to blame the Republican Party.
It’s the Republicans who are right now passing huge tax cuts to corporations, who have given 37% of all the tax cuts passed in last fifteen years to the top 5%, who are even using a Private School Tuition Tax Credit to help wealthy parents pay their private school tuition bills. And regular, working people in Arizona aren’t getting their public schools funded? This is a public relations nightmare! Parents see their children will be suffering, losing an integral part of their one and only childhood. Many schools will have no sports programs, no music programs, crowded core classes, no PE, and most won’t even have an open Library.
Obviously, the lack of money is the culprit. But families in Arizona are paying their taxes. They are even being asked to pay more in sales tax to partially – partially – fund their public schools. And the Republican Party also wants to kick sand in public teachers’ faces too? Take away their small semblance of job security? Make sure they can’t rely on being informed in a timely manner whether or not they will have a contract for the next school year? Teachers won’t even have time to look for a new job and pick up and move their family anymore. And to top it off, this new law permits school districts to reduce the salary of any teacher in any manner at any time.
The population is growing, schools need more and more teachers, and HB 2227 is obviously punitive, making the Republican Party look like bullies. This bill does not serve the public interest, will hamper school’s ability to hire new teachers, and does nothing to make success in school any more likely. Parents, who have kids in public schools, will hold this against the Republicans. Please VETO this bill.
Sincerely,
Parent– who votes
The bill was brought upon us without notice in Florida. The quick use of Facebook on the internet allowed for a statewide grassroots movement to form quickly and create a strong offense. Interested parties may wish to look at Facebook Stop Senate Bill 6 as one of many groups. Best of luck to Arizona! At least Florida will not be the first Domino to fall! Let’s wish the same for Arizona!
Jan Brewer is toast. Anti-tax Republican already aren’t going to vote for her. Democrats aren’t going to vote for her. No Libertarian would vote for her. And the 30% of Arizona voters who are Independent maybe half might vote for her but will she survive her Republican primary… anybody taking bets on that one?