The Latest from Rick
By now, you’ve heard about Senate Bill 6, the anti-teacher bill that passed the House in the very early hours of April 9th. In defense and in support of public school teachers throughout Florida, I voted against this measure. I stood on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives and urged Republicans to get serious about education reform. I explained that while we may never be able to legislate good parenting, we can address our own actions. We can make better laws, and fulfill our constitutional obligation to fund our public schools. We can work to improve our schools without destroying them with a sledge hammer. If they are serious about improving our education system, and not destroying it, then I’ll be the first to join them in drafting new, bipartisan legislation with input from all stakeholders.
It’s now up to Governor Charlie Crist. He will either sign or veto the bill this week. Please contact Governor Crist and urge him to veto SB 6.
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You’ve heard about SB 6/HB 7189. Below are some key components.
- SB6 takes away often-needed employment protections for public school teachers.
- The bill eliminates professional contracts that teachers now qualify for after three years of successful work in the classroom. In their place, teachers would be offered annual contracts, which would subject the instructors to being terminated without cause or due process rights.
- SB6 would base all teachers’ future salary increases primarily on students’ learning gains as determined by the students’ performance on Florida’s controversial standardized test, the FCAT, and for some subject matters, on yet-developed end-of-course exams. Based on student performance, teachers will be categorized in four areas: highly effective, effective, needs improvement, unsatisfactory. Only teachers determined to be “highly effective” or “effective” would be eligible for a pay raise.
- The bill eliminates the ability of administrators to use a new teacher’s advanced academic degree (such as a Master’s degree or a doctorate) or their teaching experience as factors in setting their base salary.
- Teachers hired after July 1 would not be eligible for the current 7-percent salary bonus for obtaining the prestigious National Board Certification.
- Some say SB6 will be especially hurtful to special education instructors since their students face greater challenges in showing learning gains.
- Teachers would lose their teaching certificate if their students fail to show learning gains in four out of five years. No other state has such a punitive provision.
- The bill gives the Florida Department of Education unprecedented authority to withhold 5 percent of all school districts education funding to force the districts to revise their contracts to comply with these new teacher assessment standards.
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The legislation proposed by Republican leaders this year places an unfunded mandate on school districts, punishes all public school teachers and students, puts an inordinate amount of attention of standardized tests, and generally just continues the GOP’s assault on public education in our state.
There are ways to improve education in Florida without using a sledge hammer. But with the inevitable expansion of the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship, aka vouchers, I am increasingly convinced that their ultimate goal is to slowly kill public education, not improve it.
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Our contamination notification bill, HB 207, received favorable support in committee this week. There is still much work to be done, and not a lot of time to do it, but I’m determined to make this bill a law.
I’m thankful that the St. Petersburg Times was on hand at the meeting. Here’s their report, which was published on their ‘Buzz’ blog…
“State Rep. Rick Kriseman, a St. Petersburg Democrat, epitomized the time-honored lesson: if you fail once, try again.
His legislation (HB207) to require the state to provide better notice of toxic contamination and require polluters to pay for it nearly died earlier this session after Republicans lodged complaints of “big government” intervention. The legislation is a reaction to the Raytheon toxic plume in Pinellas County.
But committee Chairwoman Trudi Williams let him try again Thursday. And this time it passed. Though it helped that lead agitator Paige Kreegel, a Punta Gorda Republican, left the room before the vote.”
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Rep. Rick Kriseman files military readiness bill urging the United States Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
St. Petersburg, FL – Florida State Representative Rick Kriseman (D-St. Petersburg) has filed House Memorial 1459 urging Congress to adopt and the President of United States to sign into law legislation that repeals the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and institutes a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation with respect to service in the U.S. Military.
“It’s past time to end the failed policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. There are nearly eighty thousand gay or lesbian veterans who live in Florida; brave men and women who served honorably, but also in fear. They deserved better, and today’s service members deserve better. I urge our leaders in Washington, D.C. to move quickly in repealing this terribly ineffective law”, said Representative Kriseman, who serves as a policy advisor to the House Democratic Caucus.
“Rick Kriseman joins our military’s top leaders in recognizing that firing qualified service members based on anti-gay prejudice is both un-American and hurts out military’s readiness. Those who choose to serve their country deserve respect, not discrimination”, said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida.
More than 13,000 service members have been discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, including hundreds of service members in critical occupations, such as counterintelligence experts and medical specialists. Further, hundreds of language specialists have been discharged from military service under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, including 55 Arabic translators and nine Farsi translators, all of which are vitally important positions to intelligence gathering and are positions for which there is a critical shortage of qualified personnel.
“My wife and I have two children. We want them to grow up in a safe world. I wish this for all Floridians. There’s no doubt that this policy makes us less safe and compromises the readiness and expertise of our great military”, said Representative Kriseman.
HM 1459 is the only such bill filed in the Florida Legislature this session. It now awaits a committee reference and hearing.
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The American Civil Liberties Union recently sued Florida, alleging that the state has failed to meet its constitutionally mandated duty to ensure that all public school students receive a quality education.
In response to this lawsuit and with Florida ranking in the bottom third of the country in education funding, the leaders of the Florida House and Senate decided to exacerbate the problem. Instead of treating education as a priority and proposing new legislation increasing funding to our schools, leadership reacted as only they know how — by filing legislation that cuts funding to schools, increases the transfer of public funds to private schools, and increases the number of students in a classroom.
The first bill, known as the “Right Size Class Size,” has been filed by Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
Even those who fully support the class size amendment passed by Florida voters acknowledge that strict interpretation of the amendment can create difficulties for school districts.
I agree that districts need flexibility in implementing the class size amendment. And while I firmly believe that voters knew exactly what they were doing when they approved this amendment, I don’t believe anyone wants to create a situation where one late enrolled student would require the construction of a new classroom or the hiring of a new teacher. Floridians want smaller class sizes, but also reasonable and limited flexibility to address unique situations.
It is exactly for that reason that my colleagues and I in the Florida House, including Rep. Weatherford, voted in favor of CS/HB 7043, a 2008 bill that provided a flexible statutory mechanism for implementing the class size amendment while preserving its constitutional integrity and purpose. This bill originated in an education committee I had the pleasure of serving on known as the 21st Century Competitiveness Committee. The committee’s chairman worked in bipartisan fashion, eliciting input from Republicans and Democrats and from all stakeholders.
Given that most bills do not pass when first introduced, common sense would dictate that it be filed again, especially given its broad support. So why aren’t Weatherford and Gaetz refiling the bill this year? As usual, the answer is money. While the bill I favor would not impact the state’s education funding obligations, their bill will reduce education funding by $3.2 billion.
This is unconscionable.
The second bill, which has yet to receive a catchy name, is also being filed by Weatherford. This bill will significantly increase the school voucher program, enabling students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches the opportunity to attend a private school. A student’s attendance at the private school is then paid for by corporations who get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in return for their contributions.
Those who oppose voucher programs typically have three concerns: accountability, separation of church and state, and funding.
Weatherford deserves credit for addressing some accountability issues in his bill, as it provides for financial reporting requirements for any private school that accepts public dollars. It further requires a school-by-school disclosure of standardized test scores for voucher students. I applaud the first part of this new accountability measure, but question how and why we ever approved a voucher program that didn’t require financial reporting on the use of taxpayer dollars. Regarding testing, students attending private schools on the taxpayers’ dime are not required to take the same standardized test as public school students.
Last year, I filed a bill that would have corrected this problem by requiring voucher students to take the FCAT. While the FCAT and the policies surrounding that test are almost universally disdained, my bill would have at least provided a consistent accountability measure. Unfortunately, House leadership refused to hear my bill.
As to religion being taught in a taxpayer-paid classroom, Weatherford makes no effort to address or correct this in his bill. While I fully support optional religious course electives or clubs in our public schools, teaching a single religion to our students at taxpayer expense is wrong.
Most importantly, vouchers take tax dollars, which would otherwise go toward general revenue and our public school system, and divert those dollars to private schools.
Weatherford was quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as stating, “There’s no doubt in my mind that public schools will always be the predominant way (of educating students), but that doesn’t mean parents shouldn’t have a choice.”
If our desire is for parents to “have a choice,” why continue to diminish the value and quality of our public schools, forcing parents to demand a private one? Public school won’t be a choice. It may just cease to exist in Florida.
Bring on the next round of lawsuits.
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