MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Originally published Friday, March 12, 2010.
If you felt your building shake on Wednesday this week, it's because of
the seismic shift in Florida education policy proposed by the 2010
legislature.
On Wednesday, a Senate panel approved two bills
that would overhaul Florida's public education system, creating a
system of merit pay for teachers and increasing the amount of math and
science a student needs to pass to graduate.
One of the bills
(SB 6) puts teachers on annual contracts and ties their pay to how well
their students perform on standardized exams. Districts that don't use
a merit pay system will lose large amounts of state funding.
The
bill is a pet proposal of the Jeb Bush-based Foundation for Florida's
Future and was passed by the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee
Wednesday, on a party line vote of 6-2, with the committee's two
Democrats opposed.
Another bill (SB 4) would require high school
students to take geometry, two years of algebra, biology, chemistry or
physics and an additional "rigorous" science course to graduate. The
class requirements would be phased in as would end-of-course examinations, which would eventually replace the state's current standardized exam, the FCAT.
Already on the table are major proposals that would overhaul, or do away, with FRS completely for future employees.
FASA
and the Mixon team are actively working all these proposals on your
behalf. Because this session is so serious, we have added additional
resources to help us in the legislature.
I'm proud to
announce that we have been joined by Dr. Larry Wood, a brilliant man
who knows both schools and the legislature. As K12 Chancellor, I worked
with Larry at the DOE where he was Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, he was Budget Director for the Florida Board of Education.
In the legislature, Larry served in a key position as Senior Staff Director of Senate Appropriations. Larry was also Staff Director of the Florida Senate Finance and Tax Committee for two years. He has a Ph.D. in Public Administration, a CPM in Public Management and BS degree in Management.
Larry is widely known and respected in Tallahassee and throughout our state. We are proud that he has agreed to serve you during this difficult time. To learn more about important issues and to meet Dr. Larry Wood, watch this week's FASA Video Update. Juhan Mixon and Larry Wood will quickly update you on where we stand today.
You can see this week's video by clicking here.
Have a great day!
Jim Warford
Send Jim a message by clicking here.
Previous Messages from the Executive Director
March 12, 2010
March 5, 2010
February 26, 2010
February 19, 2010
February 12, 2010
February 5, 2010
January 29, 2010
January 22, 2010
January 15, 2010
January 8, 2010
December 11, 2009
December 4, 2009
November 20, 2009
November 6, 2009
October 30, 2009
October 23, 2009
October 16, 2009
October 9, 2009
October 2, 2009
September 25, 2009
September 18, 2009
September 11, 2009
September 4, 2009
August 28, 2009
August 21, 2009
August 14, 2009
August 7, 2009
July 31, 2009
July 17, 2009
July 10, 2009
July 3, 2009
June 26, 2009
June 19, 2009
June 12, 2009
June 5, 2009
May 29, 2009
May 22, 2009
May 15, 2009
May 8, 2009
May 1, 2009
April 24, 2009
April 17, 2009
April 3, 2009
March 27, 2009
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