TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Florida Will Lose Quality Teachers If It Slashes Certification Program

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

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.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT