The House and the Senate aligned their position on teacher pay raises Sunday, putting the Florida Legislature on a collision course with Gov. Rick Scott. The chambers agreed to spend $480 million on salary increases for educators — the same figure Scott has in his budget. The key difference: the Senate and the House are insisting on performance-based raises, while Scott is championing $2,500 across-the-board increases for every classroom teacher.
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Performance-based raises are the way to go. Gov. Scott is pandering to the Union.
In 2010, Bill Graham lost his School Board seat because he was for merit based raises. The PBPost endorsed his opponent, Karen Brill, who was for non-performance based raises even though our student test scores were atrocious. Florida, especially south Florida has a unique problem--the immigrant situation with kids from non-speaking English homes. Realizing that it is extremely difficult when we have kids in school who can barely read or write English, teachers can still teach. A raise is not deserved just for showing up to do your job. In 2011, Lake Worth High School had 98.% of the Seniors take the SAT. The mean score in reading was 388 and in Math, 403. Any combined score below 900 is considered LOW.
There should be more of an emphasis on scholastics and homework, not football.
We will not heal our community until we take action to reform our schools. I looked at Lake Worth High School's SAT scores myself last year. Atrocious. These kids do not know how to read and write. I would like to know just what they do all day. What are the taxpayers paying for? And where are we supposed to send our kids to school if we want them be challenged and to grow?
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