What are they thinking and what do you think about it?

Posted on April 5th, 2011 by

What are they thinking and what do you think about it?

As I visit our schools and run into people all over the community, the current legislative session and the working state budget is what I am asked most about these days. Many people ask questions about their job’s future or their student’s educational future and they want to know what we as representatives are doing and what do we think about the issues. We are at the midway point of the state legislative session and this is a good time to talk about what has happened and is happening in education.

Few would disagree that this is one of the toughest times in Florida’s education history. (To give you some background to Florida policymaking I would encourage you to read former Governor & Senator Bob Graham’s Special to the St. Pete Times.) What always impresses me is when people of different political ideologies see through their individual differences to come together in what is best and correct for our children and our schools. It is something that during and since my own election I have witnessed on our school board and as I have visited with other school board members throughout our state. I have great appreciation for people who don’t see eye to eye on every minor point but still respect each other and respect that each person is working to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students. I have also been around public education long enough to see those that speak about being “for kids” only to then make choices that directly have a negative effect on students and their education; unfortunately, this legislative session we have seen much of that.

I believe politics has played a major role in much of the overhaul in education legislation during this session. “How can you say that?” you ask? In February of this year Florida earned a fifth-place ranking on a new national report that evaluates the quality of education in each state. (Click here to read full story, click here for full report.) So then why would our state legislators go to such great lengths to do all in their legal power to penalize the educational successes of our public schools? What happened to the saying “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”? The public education is not always perfect in our state and minor changes and modifications will always be necessary to improve upon it, but not to the extent that has happened and is happening.

Lets look at our own Citrus County Schools. Citrus County Schools has been rated by the Department of Education as an “A” District for the last 5 years and is recognized as a “High Performing School District.” The district ranked 2nd in the state of Florida for percentage of students making learning gains in math. The district is ranked 3rd in the state of Florida for having students in the lowest 25% making learning gains in math. Citrus County schools ranks 15th out of 67 districts in our state for school grades and as I mentioned Florida Schools now Ranks 5th in Nation. Citrus County school students’ ACT and SAT scores are above the state average for reading and math. In 2010 graduation year, 388 graduates received $8.7 million in scholarships. Citrus has 18 elementary, middle and high schools, in addition to specialty and alternative learning schools. Citrus County Schools has approximately 16,000 students; of those, 878 are Gifted and 2,455 are ESE. As a further educational challenge, Citrus County currently has approximately 70% of its students as Title 1 students (“free and reduced lunch students”). Citrus County Schools is one of the largest employers in the county with approximately 2,450 employees. We have approximately only 83 administrators (and dropping) to manage our employees, teachers and schools which is one of the lowest ratios in the state. The beginning teacher’s salary is $33,858 a year and the average teacher’s salary is $45,768. This is 33rd out of 67 counties in Florida. Florida ranks 47th out of 50 states in teachers’ pay scale. (Click here for a more full snap shot on our Citrus County Schools.)

What has happened? Since the session opened three major issues have an dominated the education agenda:

SB 736 – The Education Personnel passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Scott. SB 736 eliminates professional service contracts for teachers hired after July 1, 2011, and does not fully provide new hires due process. Current teachers opting into the new performance salary schedule or those moving to another district would also lose due process. In addition, elementary and middle students’ FCAT scores and high school students’ end of course exam scores will count for 50% of a teacher’s evaluation and salary increases. Length/years of service will have no factor in a teacher’s pay grade but will for all non-teacher positions. I have both constitutional concerns with this new law and I don’t believe there is any data to show that this will have a positive impact on student performance. I also do not believe that we have an epidemic of poorly- performing teachers in either our county or state. I f that were the case, then again why would Florida now be ranked 5th in the nation? What I do have is great concerns that this will have a negative impact on our student s’ education and our schools. Furthermore, I have concerns that in the near future we are going to have teacher shortages in our state due to this law.

Educational Budget (click here for a side by side comparison) – The Florida House is proposing reducing the funding per student by -$463.13 or -6.80% less and the Florida Senate -$423.27 or -6.21% less. To our Citrus county that would mean that next 2011-2012 school year we would have a deduced funding of approximately $5,200,000.00 or -5% less to our students. This is on top of the near $20,000,000 that Citrus County Schools has already lost in the last few school years.  (Click here for related Chronicle story)

HB 1405 – Changes Florida Retirement System from a noncontributory system to a contributory system and requires each active member of the FRS to contribute a percentage of pre-tax gross salary to fund retirement benefits. In addition, it may be closing DROP to enrollment or terminating DROP all together. One item that I am hopeful for is to close the loophole that always hourly state employees such as law enforcement and fire personal to have their overtime count into the system. This has been a loophole that has allowed many FRS members to retire in less then 30 years with full retirement or work up to 30 years and retire with a greater benefit. This has not been a benefit or loophole that salary members like educators were allowed.

What will happen? It is not clear. Every day new bills, amendments, and budget proposals are working their way through. I can not stress enough for people to learn about the issues and what bills are being debated in the State legislature. I f you have never been involved in tracking or learning about these things in the past, this is a critical year to begin doing so. Talk with your family and friends and inform them. Contact our representatives! Rep. Smith and Senator Dean are governing from the heart and I feel they want to do what is best for our students but it is vital that they hear from you and know how this will effect you personally.

This new educational system may fail many students and I believe we have an obligation to change that.  We must not fail them!

If you have any questions, please contact me.

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