Last year, teachers, parents and others concerned about what might happen to the state of education in Florida if Senate Bill 6 was passed lobbied former Governor Charlie Crist for weeks during last year's legislative session in Tallahassee, before the Governor warmed their hearts by vetoing the legislation.
But the same type of teacher reform bill is back this session (called SB 736 in the Senate), and much of the public school establishment in Florida is just as upset about as its predecessor. And it's already breezed through several committees, and is scheduled to be voted on the Senate next week (no time line has been established for the House version).
To indicate their displeasure, parents, students, teachers and public employees will rally this Friday, March 4 in Pinellas County while wearing red to indicate that anger over SB736, being led in the state Senate by Jacksonville Republican Stephen Wise.
Those protesters will meet at 3 different locations in Pinellas from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. In Clearwater, they will be at the corner of N.McMullen Booth Road and State Road 580. In Largo, at the corner of Ulmerton Road and 66th St. And in St. Petersburg, they'll be meeting and walking at Tyrone Blvd. and 66th Street.
Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association head Kim Black says what the Legislature is trying to do to public schools with this bill is unacceptable.
“Educators know what it takes to help our children succeed in the classroom and beyond. The
constant attacks and negative rhetoric about public education have not deterred us from raising our
public schools to 5th in the nation in student achievement. Our students don?t understand the constant
bullying of their teachers and quite frankly, neither do we! We kept our promise to provide a high
quality public education for all students. Now it is time for legislators to keep theirs."
Prepare for more such demonstrations and public displays of disaffection for the Legislature to come from the public education community as the session continues.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.