Last year the teacher merit bill known as SB 736 became a political football whose fate was in the hands of Governor Charlie Crist. The former Governor milked the intense focus on his decision for weeks, ultimately folding his decision to veto the John Thrasher sponsored bill into his declaration of independence from the Republican Party of Florida.

Crist earned the love of the public school unions, later winning a co-endorsement from the Florida Teachers Association, the state's biggest public employee union, with that veto. But it didn't help him in November when he got thrashed by Marco Rubio in his race for U.S. Senate.

The teachers unions in Florida knew that they didn't have a backstop to prevent a similarly worded bill coming out of the Legislature this year, and they are correct, as Governor Rick Scott is expected to soon sign SB 736, derided by Democrats as the "son of 6," very soon.

The bill goes to Scott as the Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the teacher reform bill on an 80-39 vote along party lines. It follows a 26-12 vote in the Senate last week – a vote that happened on just the second day of the regular session.

The legislation sets up a performance pay system based on student test results, evaluates teachers on those test scores and eliminates due-process rights for all new teachers and any existing teacher who enters the performance pay system or moves to a different school district. Teachers do not have to enter the performance pay system, but that means that they won't be eligible for pay increases.

Supporters of the legislation promote the fact that teachers who are evaluated highly can receive more money than they currently make. But public school officials say that the evaluation system is not a worthy system to truly assess performance.

Florida Education Association President Andy Ford was scornful after the House vote:

"There’s no research evidence that this legislation will help our children in public schools. We’ve looked closely at plenty of scientifically sound, peer reviewed research out there that shows this is the wrong approach to take to implement performance pay and to revamp evaluations.”

Schools have seen steep budget cuts over the past four years and all indications are that they will face the most drastic budget cuts yet next school year,” Ford said. “But lawmakers have added this new fiscal burden to already struggling school districts. This additional burden will have to be made up somewhere – and we fear there will be more students in each classroom and a great many programs will be curtailed or eliminated in our public schools.”

“Despite the mantra about local control and less government we hear from lawmakers, this bill reduces a school district’s flexibility and authority over teacher evaluations, pay schedules and working conditions,” Ford said. “This bill gives new power and authority to the Florida Department of Education and the Legislature. It’s not good for students, it’s not good for teachers and it’s not grounded in sound research. Governor Scott should veto this bill and tell lawmakers to start over and get it right.”

Schools have seen steep budget cuts over the past four years and all indications are that they will face the most drastic budget cuts yet next school year,” Ford said. “But lawmakers have added this new fiscal burden to already struggling school districts. This additional burden will have to be made up somewhere – and we fear there will be more students in each classroom and a great many programs will be curtailed or eliminated in our public schools.”

While districts are not required to fund performance pay until 2014, they must immediately begin developing and implementing hundreds of additional FCAT-style tests and the new evaluation systems this year. As the FEA's Mark Pudlow writes, some estimates say the total cost of new tests, technology and software could be more than $2 billion, yet the Legislature provided no new funding and is likely to slash school district budgets this session.

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.