by David Safier
I've written at length about The Floridation of Arizona Education. If Florida does it — grading schools A through F, holding back kids in the third grade — pretty soon, we'll be doing it too.
But it looks like Florida is turning this into a mutual admiration society.
Coming down the pike in Florida are 2 ideas our crazy-right legislature has the dubious distinction of championing first. Florida plans to effectively wipe out teacher tenure, as we did recently. And it's trying to enact a version of our corporate tax credits for private school scholarships, which we put into place a few years ago.
There's no happenstance here. The conservative educational triangle has Florida on the east, Arizona on the west, and Texas somewhere between them. The nation's education was Tex-ified during the Bush years, adding the NCLB stress on high stakes testing, and Texas has been pushing textbooks to the right for decades. Arizona has led in charter schools and backdoor vouchers. Jeb Bush continues to dominate Florida's education scene.
The 3 states have a combination of strong conservative legislative majorities and well funded conservative institutions to stuff education bills down the gullets of legislators like a mother bird stuffs worms down the gullets of her babies.
Our vast right wing educational conspiracy is a three pointed axis of ed evil, and we are one of the points.
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A Floridian, I follow this blog on occasion. I suggest one watches the current backlash against
current legislation by googling Senate Bill 6/House Bill 7189. We in Florida are asking the same question as one of the above posters. Why would anyone want to teach in this state? Years of experience and advanced degrees no longer are reasons for extra payment. Teachers have only annual contracts and lose due process rights. Teachers can lose their certificate if gains are insufficient as based on a non-existent system. The value added system is nowhere to be seen and yett the bill is passing against the will of the people. The bill is an expensive unfunded mandate and the state is already broke. The will of the people has not been represented. I send my caution and urge Arizona to watch the Florida battle. There is MORE to Florida than the rosy picture supplied by Mr. Ladner. Prepare yourselves.
Yeah, my student teacher, as he watched me and nearly everyone in my hallway (I don’t know what it is about our hallway, it’s like the Hallway of Doom) get a “you’ve been identified as a candidate for the transfer pool” letter(aka the first step toward a RIF), got some on-the-job experience he wasn’t bargaining for. We lost at least seven certified people that I know of, and that’s without leaving the basement. Who knows what the toll was on the additional two floors. The student teacher who was with me last semester is moving…to Guadalajara, where she can find a job teaching English.
So sorry, Nic-Nic.
It’s a crummy system and this state is beyond screwed up. My school lost five certified and six classified people. Why would ANYONE start a teaching career in Arizona?
We are eating the seed corn.
Teacher tenure is alive and well this year, though. I was just placed in the transfer pool/cut from my site today based on the district seniority of the other teacher in my department. Originally, we were to interview/compete for the open positions, but districts decided they could get around the bill for this year.