TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Florida Will Lose Quality Teachers If It Slashes Certification Program
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Published: April 22, 2008
Chances are there's not a single legislator in Tallahassee who didn't campaign on a promise to improve public education in Florida.
Yet these same lawmakers are preparing to slash support for a national-certification program widely credited with encouraging and rewarding the state's best teachers.
Florida has 11,000 teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a credential many teachers say is tougher to earn than a master's degree. It can take years to complete the training, which includes assessments of teaching styles and tests on subject knowledge.
Up until now, the state has paid most of the $2,500 application fee for teachers willing to do the work for certification. If they're successful, these teachers get a 10 percent annual bonus, which averages about $4,500. And if they agree to train and mentor other teachers, they can get a second annual bonus of 10 percent.
But with tax revenues coming up short, lawmakers are searching for places to cut. They were right to kill the disastrous Merit Award Program for teachers, an award so arbitrary that Hillsborough's Teacher of the Year, Debby Dowell, and half the runners-up, didn't qualify. However, Dowell is board-certified - that program knows a good teacher when it sees one.
Lawmakers are making a mistake by cutting support for national certification. Already, they've eliminated the subsidy for the application fee, a cost that will hit novice teachers hardest. And they've cut the bonuses given teachers who work overtime to train and mentor others.
Thankfully, the 10 percent bonus given teachers who obtain certification has survived, at least for now.
People who read this page know it runs against our nature to support the largesse demanded by unions representing government employees. And the teachers' union has grown salaries by negotiating pay increases for every little this or that. In many ways, these add-on increases have been abused, but not when it comes to rewarding the state's best teachers.
Good managers know it makes good business sense to reward your highest-performing employees, those who keep an organization moving forward and bring others along with them.
It has been a high point in Florida's education reform for teachers to obtain national certification. And in a profession that loses half of new teachers in the first five years, surveys show that 90 percent of certified teachers plan to remain in their profession.
Board-certified teachers can write their own ticket in states that recognize their value. By cutting their pay, the Legislature is all but inviting the state's best teachers to leave.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( pojamie ) on April 22, 2008 at 2:43 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
With all the problems we have been having with teachers, now they want to "lower" the standards. I guess the question would be: How low can you go?
No disrespect intended for any of the wonderful teachers who have assisted my children over the years.
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Posted by ( dalatorr ) on April 23, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Nobody wants to lower the quality level of teachers; they want to quit subsidizing it. We're in a budget crunch. You want the bonus, you pay the application fee. That's fair. You'll more than make it up with the bonus.
The trib editors just think the solution to every problem is raise taxes - never to cut wasteful spending. I'm not saying that this spendingis wasteful, but we need to look at everything we can, and forget about special interests.
The trib is in the pocket of the teachers union, so they don't see it this way.
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Posted by ( Melody07 ) on April 23, 2008 at 1:41 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The teachers who work to achieve this certification put in NUMEROUS hours of their own time to do so. I think the fee should be paid & the bonus program should remain if it will retain qualified teachers. I've never met a teacher who only works their scheduled hours and who didn't take $ out of their own pocket for classroom supplies or activities. They do this for our children.
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Posted by ( DarthSilverstein ) on April 23, 2008 at 4:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
teach these kids english, math, science & history. how much has this changed over the last 50 years??? why do you need so much freakin money. get a real job
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Posted by ( Teeg ) on April 23, 2008 at 4:56 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Get a real job? Come walk a week in my shoes buster, and then tell me to get a real job!
So much freakin money? Get a clue hot shot. We live in one of the lowest paying states for teacher pay.
I would like to suggest that Darth Silverstein get an education himself and try the profession on for size. I have never and will never complain about my job. I absolutely love what I do (even after 29 years), but to make those kinds of ignorant comments on a public forum... no wonder Johnny Silverstein can't read, write or cipher!
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Posted by ( dalatorr ) on April 23, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Sounds like you were complaining just then, Teeg: "we live in one of the lowest paying states for teacher pay."
Quit whining. I never met a teacher who DIDN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW LITTLE THEY WERE PAID.
You guys don't get the job done, then cry and blame everybody else.
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Posted by ( thomartin ) on April 28, 2008 at 4:03 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
As a teacher, I have an idea. Take away all the teaching responsibilities and just pay me minimum wage to babysit all these kids all day. I'd clear over 100K a year instead of under 40K! The most frightening thing an administration can hear teachers saying is "Work to contract", as it means none of the uncompensated extras and enrichments that make school possible and productive would get done. I agree there is a lot (a LOT) of waste in public education, but salaries and professional development isn't where it's wasted.
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