Legislature poised to pass education overhaul today

A group of far-reaching education reforms appears headed for final passage in the Legislature today -- leaving the final say up to Gov. Charlie Crist, whose support for the most controversial part of the package may be wavering.

The Senate has already passed the package of proposals that would revamp teacher contracts and certification, boost graduation standards and freeze the implementation of the class-size limits that voters approved in 2002.

For weeks, the state teachers union has protested the bill that would eliminate traditional multi-year contracts for teachers hired after July 1 in most school districts.

Teachers would instead receive contracts that expire annually, making it easier to fire those with seniority. Salary increases would depend largely on students' performance on tests, including end-of-course exams. Districts that do not use such exams now would have to implement them.

House sponsor John Legg, R-Port Richey, on Wednesday said the overhaul would improve education by rewarding the best teachers more quickly, and with more money. "The most critical component in the classroom, when it comes to education, is the teacher."

Teachers, however, warned the plan will discourage talented people from entering or remaining in the profession.

"It's way too much, way too quick. It's not thought-out," said Jean Clements, president of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.

The bill allows Hillsborough County to keep its multi-year teacher contracts because it has won a $100-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to incorporate related reforms.

The bill would make it harder for all teachers to keep their teaching certificates, however. To re-certify, they would have to prove they were "effective" or "highly effective" for four of the last five years, based on students' learning gains.

Crist, who has supported the bill this session, said Wednesday that he could not ignore the outcry: "Shame on any public servant who doesn't listen to the people."

The governor did not indicate that he would veto the bill, but said he was more skeptical after speaking with "a dear friend" about their son, who has special needs. Crist is now concerned, he said, about "how special-needs teachers would be evaluated" under the bill, which emphasizes student testing.

The bill's supporters in the House insisted Wednesday that adequate diagnostic tools exist to measure the progress of students with developmental disabilities.

Teachers have also raised concerns about their employment and salaries hinging on the test scores of students struggling with poverty, family dysfunction, pregnancy and other problems stemming from beyond the classroom. Some proponents have conceded that such factors may pose challenges.

Wednesday, several Republicans with reservations about the bill, including Ed Homan of Tampa, tried in vain to convince their colleagues to make changes. But any amendments would force the Senate to vote on the bill again, which leaders in both chambers want to avoid.

Republicans' proposal to permanently freeze the implementation of constitutional class-size restrictions has been less of a flashpoint but is controversial nonetheless.

Currently, schools comply with the mandate by meeting schoolwide class-size averages. In 2010-2011, however, every class in a school will have to comply with hard caps on the number of students assigned to it.

That could force more busing, rezoning and other drastic measures, proponents of the bill say.

"We have spent $16 billion dollars implementing the class size restrictions," said Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, the lead House sponsor. "This allows us to spend money in the classroom and not just building them,"

If voters approved the measure, K-3 classes would continue to average 18 students; grades 4-8 would average 22 students and high-school classes would average 25 students.

Democrats, arguing that smaller classes have improved student performance, argued in vain to retain hard caps on class sizes in the earliest grades.

The bill to boost high-school graduation standards appears to have the most bipartisan support, since it would phase out the high-school Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which Democrats have long criticized. By 2014, statewide end-of-course exams in Algebra I, Geometry and Biology I would replace the FCAT in math, science and writing.

The minority party is supporting the bill, though not without reservations. "Just to substitute one set of high-stakes tests for another creates an atmosphere of horror," said Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood.

Legg said the testing and other new requirements in the bill reflect the demands of the modern job market. "We want to ensure that those students, upon leaving high school, have those skills mastered."