In his State of the State address on Tuesday, published reports indicate that Gov. Rick Scott received "tepid" applause from GOP lawmakers when he referred to his plan to reward all public school teachers a $2,500 bonus in 2013.
Acknowledging the push back he's received from members of his own party — who believe bonuses should only go to teachers who perform better in the classroom — Scott said, "some say they are afraid that giving raises to all teachers may mean that a teacher doing a bad job gets rewarded. But, thanks to our work, we are now in a better position than ever before to reward good teachers and move bad teachers out of the classroom."
Like Medicaid expansion, however, the governor doesn't get the last word on the subject; that's the Legislature's purview.
Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association president Jean Clements said teachers in each county need to be at the bargaining table with administration officials to decide how to best distribute the new funds.
This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2013.