After a marathon debate session, the state House of Representatives voted 64-55 in support of HB 7189, the house version of John Thrasher's SB 6, and the proposal will now go to Governor Charlie Crist's desk.
11 Republicans – including Tampa area Representative Faye Culp – joined all 44 Democrats in opposing the legislation, where the final tally came in at 2:26 a.m Friday.
Culp told the Palm Beach Post it was not easy voting against the GOP leadership.
CULP: It takes a lot of nerve to go up against leadership right now.
More than in previous years?
CULP: Probably. There’s just an awful lot of pressure from senators over there [motions to Senate side of building] and the leadership in the House to get this bill passed. But there’s a lot of pressure from people all over the state to not pass it. So, we’ll see. I don’t know what the final vote will be. There are several of us who are going to stick together and vote ‘No’ on it.
Now again, the focus moves over to Governor Charlie Crist, and will he sign the legislation, or veto it?
The Governor was on the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus last night, speaking to St. Pete Times columnist Howard Troxler's government and politics class.
According to reports, Crist was immediately asked if he would sign SB 6. His response?
"I don't know is the honest answer," he replied.
That's good news for all of those teachers, union members, Democrats, and concerned parents who have been up in arms about the legislation over the past month, and have been protesting against the bill up and down the state.
In addition to how teachers would be measured, the legislation would require much more testing than what is already happening in Florida's public schools. SB 6 requires each district to create a standardized test for every subject in every grade.
As has been reported, Hillsborough County schools would get an exemption, because of their own plan working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A key reason they won that $100 million grant in the first place was because of the unity with which the school board and superintendent were shown to have worked with the teachers union, something that is not happening (as is painfully obvious) in Tallahassee.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2010.