Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » Merit Pay Update

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

Merit Pay Update

November 3rd, 2011 by flanews

This is the first school year Florida teachers will be evaluated based on their students’ test scores. By 2013, teachers can be fired for back to back years of poor scores and in 2014, pay can be cut if students don’t test well. The merit pay system was adopted to pay the best teachers more, but as Whitney Ray tells us, its unclear if there will be any money for merit raises.

After two years of protests from teachers, Florida’s merit pay system is in place. This year half of a teacher’s performance evaluation will be based on student test scores. By 2013 a teacher can be fired for back to back years of poor evaluations and starting in 2014 half a teachers pay will be based on those test scores.”

The new merit pay system was billed as a way to reward teachers with the highest performing students.

High School history teacher Scott Brown believes in merit pay, but doesn’t think test scores are the best tool to measure teacher’s abilities.

“Multiple choice tests are not effective, studies show that,” said Brown.

Like most teachers in Florida, Brown hasn’t received a raise in four years and wonders where the state legislature will find money to pay high performing teachers.

“They’re cutting back government, so I don’t know where they are going to find the money,” said Brown.

The House Education Committee was briefed on how the merit pay system will work.

“None of the currently allocated monies are being used for merit pay,” said Rep. Dwight Bullard.

With four straight years of budget deficits and a lagging economy its unclear where lawmakers will find the money for merit pay raise. One possible source is Race to the Top funds but those dollar are issued by the federal government and aren’t a permanent source of income. The good news is lawmakers have more than two years to find the funds.

Posted in Children, Education, State Budget, State News | No Comments »

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com