Eliminate tenure, but don't trample teachers

Florida Sen. John Thrasher rightly wants to jettison public school tenure and make it easier to get rid of lousy teachers.

But the Jacksonville Republican is hurtling ahead with legislation without allowing parents, school administrators or teachers themselves to participate in the discussion.

Such a critical reform should involve more views. And tenure, while an unnecessary impediment, is hardly the major obstacle to education excellence in Florida.

Talk to parents of schoolchildren, and you will hear few complaints about incompetent or unmotivated teachers. The bigger challenge is keeping energetic teachers in a job that is becoming even more demanding. Already, more than half leave the profession within their first five years.

Thrasher demonstrated similar haste as House speaker when he orchestrated the elimination of the state Board of Regents in 2000, throwing the university system into chaos. Voters eventually remedied that blunder by restoring a higher education oversight board.

This time, Thrasher and lawmakers should take the time to get the details right.

It's easy to say teachers should be judged on students' achievements. But developing effective and equitable performance-pay standards is no simple matter. A flawed pay system - the probable result of a hasty legislative dictate - would likely demoralize dedicated teachers and discourage bright young people from pursuing the profession.

It could make teachers reluctant to serve those challenging students who most need help, but whose scores are the most difficult to improve. And it could cause teachers to focus solely on the narrow criteria on which they will be judged.

There is no need for Florida to be haphazard. Tenure is on its way out. The momentum for performance pay is strong.

President Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" education reform encourages performance pay. Florida is one of the 14 states that is a finalist for the competitive grant, which could bring as much as $1 billion here.

And the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last year awarded the Hillsborough County school district a seven-year, $100 million grant to pursue a comprehensive effort to improve teachers, including a transition to performance pay, rather than basing pay on degrees or seniority.

It's significant that the Gates' effort was embraced by the teachers' union. The reason? Teachers will be included in developing the evaluation system over the next few years. The changes will be implemented gradually. Young or struggling teachers will receive mentoring and training.

In contrast, teachers are up in arms about Thrasher's measure. It vaguely calls for the state Department of Education to consult with educators and mandates implementing the changes by 2014-15.

Teachers, who point out they have control of less than 3 percent of children's waking hours, feel they will have little say in the reward system while they will be made scapegoats for any education failures. Sure, some teachers resist any reform. But Florida, which has embraced school accountability, is not one of those states where unions have managed to smother reforms.

The Gates Foundation program seeks to inspire teachers, but Thrasher's incautious approach may well discourage them.

Thrasher's ultimate goal is worthy, and lawmakers should make clear the state will transition to performance pay. But the state should await the findings of the Hillsborough-Gates Foundation experiment, which could serve as a model for evaluations. It would be foolish to ignore this resource.

And while the Legislature should establish mandatory performance pay standards, it also should give districts some latitude in implementing their own variations. Despite what Thrasher and his fellow lawmakers think, Tallahassee doesn't have all the answers.

If Florida wants innovative education solutions, it needs to pay attention to ideas formed in the classroom, not just those that come from the Capitol.