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Florida teachers are breathing easier tonight. After a massive email, letter and phone campaign from teachers, parents and students, Governor Charlie Crist has vetoed legislation that would have instituted a merit pay plan while abolishing tenure. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the Governor found fault with not only the legislation but the process that was used.

Governor Charlie Crist made his decision Wednesday night but waited until noon Thursday to announce it. He was quick and to the point.

“I vetoed Senate Bill 6 because this bill is contrary to my firmly held principle to act in the best interest of the people of Florida,” Crist said.

And then he reiterated what he had been saying all week. There is no provision for measuring teachers of special needs children.

“There must be more consideration given to their individual needs,” he said.

He also worried about what the teachers’ union has called the “Tallahassee Takeover.”

“There are considerable directives given to local boards and a requirement for state sign-off before the plans can even be approved,” Crist said.

He discounted promises of fixing the bad points later.

“Such assertions are not enough for me to sign this legislation today,” Crist said.

He also disliked the way lawmakers refused to listen to parents or teachers.

“Quite frankly it reminds me of what happened with the health care bill in Washington, where members of my party criticized the Democrats for sort of jamming something down their throat,” Crist said.

Finally, when asked, he reiterated his decision was not political.

“It has everything to do with the children of Florida,” Crist said. “I know in my heart it’s the right thing to do, Michael. This thing was rushed through.”

The veto effectively ends the battle for this year.

The Governor also said he will create a task force which will include parents, teachers, lawmakers and others to reapply for Race to the Top Money from the Federal government. Florida’s application was denied in part because teachers had not been allowed to weigh in with their ideas.

Florida teachers have had a long history of being angry over pay, education policy and school funding. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, current protests over a merit pay bill on the Governor’s desk are similar to battles teachers have one in the past.

As many as half of Florida’s teachers walked off the job in February  1968. Seventeen days later, new legislation, still on the books today, equalizing  funding for Florida schools sent them back to work.

Merit pay has been tried before and has never lasted because there’s never been enough money to fund schools, let alone merit pay.

Teachers’ anger came to a boil in 1982 over the merit pay issue. A thousand angry teachers filled the Capitol courtyard and booed then-Governor Bob Graham who was pushing the idea.

In  these pre-email days, teachers collected hundreds of letters.

Merit pay became law but it lasted just two years. Lawmakers ran out of money. Today, business leaders are citing the ’82 merit pay experiment as another reason for the governor to sign the legislation this year.

“We lost that opportunity nearly a quarter of a century ago,” Dominic Calabro with Florida Taxwatch. “We do not want to lose that opportunity today.”

But like years past, there’s no money for merit pay and that’s weighing on the governor.

“And that is part of the deliberation that I’m going through, in making a determination on the bill and whether or not we can afford it,” Crist said.

The deadline for a decision is Friday, but it could come sooner.

The main funding issue come from a provision in SB 6 that requires schools to hold back five percent of school budgets to develop tests, when schools are already facing state funding cuts.

Teachers, students, and parents have been staking out the capitol all day trying to get a face-to-face meeting with the governor to ask him to nix Senate Bill Six. Crist has until Friday, but could act sooner. As Whitney Ray tells us, he’s hinting at a veto.

The Senate Bill Six circus continued Wednesday… At a news conference with the governor, the sponsor of the legislation rushed out the door as we tried to ask a question.

Soon after, a parent stood up to question the speed at which Senate Bill Six soared through the legislature.

“How long did it take for SB 6 to pass,” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I think it was weeks though,“ said Crist.

Minutes later Crist hinted at a veto.

“You said that the tenure aspects were part of your concerns, why is that,” asked a WFSU reporter.

“Well, I’ll explain it in much greater detail soon,” said Crist.

The governor’s office has been packed all day with teachers, parents and even bus drivers asking for a veto.

Annie Pearl Curtis has been driving a school bus for 20 years. She worries that a provision in six requiring schools to hold back five percent of their budgets to develop tests will come out of her paycheck.

“Let me talk to him, aren’t we paying him?” asked Curtis.

The bus drivers didn’t get a meeting; two hours later teachers and student from Miami tried their luck. They brought hundreds of letters from teachers.

“It takes away experience. Advance degrees mean nothing,” said Eugenio Perez, a 9th grade teacher from Miami.

Crist has taken to calling some teachers on their cell phones to get their views on the bill. He says he’s willing to listen to everyone, but time is running out to make a decision.

Many of the teachers roaming the halls of the capitol today are registered Republicans. They wanted to remind Crist that they plan to vote in the US Senate primary in August.

The full court press is on in the halls of the state capitol to convince the Governor to either sign or veto controversial legislation abolishing teacher tenure and creating merit pay. Governor Charlie Crist is at the center of the efforts by both sides, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, he appears to be leaning toward a veto.

Pockets of teachers from across the state walked Capitol hallways, delivering petitions asking the Governor to veto Senate Bill Six. Crist met with them briefly.

“You have no incentive to go on to get advanced degrees, a master’s or a doctorate, because that won’t be measured as part of your performance,” teacher Lynn Janasiewicz said. “So it just really demoralizes us as teachers.”

Feeling the pressure, the state’s largest business groups called on the governor to stand with them and sign Senate Bill Six.

“We know there has been some vocal opposition to the legislation,” Marshall Criser III, with the Council of 100, said. “We want to get the governor to know that education leaders, teachers, and business leaders also support him and this bill.”

With poster-sized emails from teachers at her side, a senior advisor to former Governor Jeb Bush says most teachers are misinformed.

“Commissioner Smith, I believe, one of his teacher liaisons put out information to all the teachers in the state, to clarify what’s in the bill,” Patricia Levesque, with the Foundation for Florida’s Future, said. “And she’s gotten very positive responses because they weren’t getting accurate information.”

Two top education officials advertised as attending the business press conference didn’t show.

The Governor continues to say he hasn’t made up his mind, but continues to say he has concerns.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been lobbied this hard,” Crist said.

The governor also acknowledged that former Governor Jeb Bush left a voice mail, asking him to sign the legislation.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act on the legislation

Hundreds of children are walking the halls of the state capitol this week, asking lawmakers to fund kids programs.  They’re being accompanied by parents and children’s advocates of course.  Cuts to programs that help kids with mental health problems and prevent child abuse are on the chopping block.  State Senator Nan Rich says the cut could add more kids to the state’s foster care rolls.

“There’s been an attempt to eliminate the healthy families program,” Rich said. “This program has a proven track record of preventing child abuse and keeping families together when it is possible to do so safely. Eliminating it would not only see more kids end up in foster care, but it could also endanger children and possibly subject them to abuse and neglect. We have to make sure that that program remains in our budget.”

The House could use money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe to save the programs.

For more than 9 hours last night and into the wee hours of this morning, the Florida House debated the most controversial bill of the year. Senate Bill six ends tenure for teachers and creates a system of merit pay. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, more than half of the house spoke before a closer than expected vote.

Julio Robaina was one of just a few Republicans who ended up speaking out against one of the top priorities of party leadership. He chided other GOP members for not voting their conscience.

“You know what, I didn’t come here to be threatened, or to be told what to do,” Robaina said.
“I didn’t even come up here to make friends.”

Amendments were voted down. Elaine Schwartz worried about the 900 million that will come out of school budgets for test development and merit pay.

“Where’s that money going to come from? Guess where… a rise in property taxes,” Rep. Elaine Schwartz (D-Miami) said.

Others said teachers shouldn’t be judged on a kid’s performance because those teachers have no control over the child’s home life.

“It is difficult to learn when you’re hungry,” Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando) said.

But the 67th speaker of the night didn’t buy that argument.

“I fundamentally disagree with that,” Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) said.  “Nothing could be further from the truth. Every child, every student can learn.”

By 2:26 a.m., the vote was much closer than most expected.

The bill was sent to the governor, where its future is uncertain, despite what legislative leaders say they were led to believe.

“I believe that this legislation, the governor should want to sign,” House Speaker Larry Cretul said. “I take him at his word that he will.”

The campaign for both sides will now shift to the governor’s office.

The bill landed on the governor’s desk this morning.  He has seven days to sign, veto or do nothing and let the legislation become law without any action.

The most controversial bill in this legislative session is on Governor Charlie Crist’s desk and thousands of cries for a veto are pouring in from across the state. The bill eliminates tenure for teachers and bases their pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, phone lines in the governor’s office are jammed with teachers trying to convince Crist to veto the bill.

It was too little too late for teachers desperately trying to change votes in the House. A nine hour session ending at 2:35 in the morning sent Senate Bill Six to the Governor’s desk. Setting up a final battle scenario playing out over the next seven days.

State Senator Dave Aronberg tweeted just seconds after the House voted. He put the governor’s phone number on the internet and asking people to voice their opposition.

“The legislature is top down. They do what the leadership tells them to do. This thing was going to roll to the governor’s mansion, the governor though says he the people’s governor and that’s why these calls and emails can work,” said Aronberg.

Friday Morning Special Education Teacher Margaret Wood picked up the phone.

Her calls to the governor’s office went straight to a voicemail box already filled to capacity. Her attempts to tell the governor that if he signs the legislation she’ll end her 33 year career were unsuccessful.

“The bill says that if you have bachelors, masters, or a PHD, it’s all the same. We’re in education, how can education not matter? I just find it insulting. I will retire,” said Wood.

The Florida Education Association says their members will be pushing for a veto the whole way.

“We hope that he listens to the people of Florida as they call in and tell him what they think of this bad legislation,” said Pudlow.

Crist says he wants to do what’s right for the Children of Florida without consideration of his political future but teachers are voters and his signature on the bill will cost him at the ballot box.

Before the bill passed last night the governor had already received 87-hundred emails from people opposed to Senate Bill 6 and just eight in favor of the bill. Add today’s action and the calls, emails, and faxes total more than 20-thousand.

Senate Bill 6 is slated for final passage late this afternoon, although the debate could go long into the evening.  Legislation to change the teaching profession in ways it has never seen, including tenure and basing pay on student performance, continues to barrel its way through the state legislature.  GOP leaders are refusing suggested changes from Democrats and their own members and As Mike Vasilinda tells us, opponents’ only hope of stopping the bill is a veto from Governor Charlie Crist.

It is a tactic most Capitol observers haven’t seen used often.

Republican leaders used a quorum call on each of thirteen votes on amendments. The idea is to discourage members from leaving the chamber or not voting on an issue.

The bottom-line message…don’t take a walk, don’t vote for any changes. Rep. Julio Robaina is one of the few Republicans who bolted from his party.

“I know that a lot of members were told that their projects or other bills that were important to them were on the line,” Robaina said.

Some votes were delayed while members were rounded up.

Majority Leader Adam Hasner did the rounding up.

“Every vote needs to be counted, every member needs to be on the floor,” Hasner said. “So that their constituents know how they’re voting on the issue.”

But what happens when the bill gets here is still anybody’s guess.

Crist caught lawmakers by surprise when he first raised the possibility of a veto on Wednesday.  Now he says his mind still isn’t made up.

“I just want to weigh it out and continue to listen,” Crist said.

But is a decision he will have to make quickly. He’ll have seven days once the bill lands on his desk.

Republican leadership in the House thought they had an agreement with the governor and are not happy that a veto is a possibility.

Distaste is growing for the most controversial bill being debated this legislative session in Tallahassee. Some Republican lawmakers are now beginning to turn their backs on Senate Bill six, which challenges teacher tenure and restricts union participation. As Whitney Ray tells us, fueling the revolt is a measure in the legislation forcing schools to spend 900 million dollars on new tests.

Halfway through a campaign of protests, letters and committee stops, teachers are beginning to influence the process.

“We are reaching out our hands, but they have to meet us halfway,” said Amanda Babcock, a 5th grade teacher.

Hundreds of thousands of letters asking lawmakers to nix Senate Bill Six are flooding offices. Democratic opposition has been strong from the get-go now some Republicans are bucking leadership and joining their ranks.

“I think leadership is the ones who are catching heat now, because they realize that some of us are compassionate Republicans and they do what’s right,” said Representative Julio Robaina.

The legislation eliminates tenure, bases pay on test scores, and bans new teachers from collective bargaining. It also forces schools to spend five percent of their budgets on developing new tests.

“Senate bill six does not give us any additional dollars. It’s a 900 million dollar mandate on schools statewide,” said Wayne Blanton, The President of the Florida School Boards Association.

The spending mandate would kick in 2011. Then in 2014, the five percent would be used to pay teachers based on their students’ test scores.

Governor Charlie Crist has received five thousand emails, and two-thousand phone calls from people opposing the legislation.

“As a former commissioner of education I like the part of trying to have merit pay, I just hope we do it in the right way,” said Crist.

It’s unlikely enough House members will vote against the bill to defeat the measure… but if enough voters tell Crist a yes on six is a no on his US Senate campaign, a veto could be in the works.

There is a war at the state capitol over the future of teacher tenure, merit pay and who controls local school budgets. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the fight pits two of the state’s most powerful interests against each other with two different visions of education.

Florida Teachers hit the airwaves first.

Then the Chamber of Commerce fired back.

“Unfortunately, the union message, across the state, needed to be countered,” Mark Wilson, President of the Florida Chamber of Commerce said.

Teachers flocked to the Capitol Monday, angry a bill that they believe would end their tenure and tie their pay to student performance.

“It’s atrocious,” Carol Cleveland, a Columbia County teacher, said. “It’s taking away all the rights from teachers.”

Then waited more than an hour for a committee room to open.

Amanda Babcock came from St. Lucie County.

“They need to ask us what we need, ask our input and let us help and work together,”  Babcock, a 5th grade teacher, said.

This is the first time that anyone in 30 years can remember the legislature scheduling an 8-hour hearing.

The legislation also has the state school boards up in arms because it requires them to set aside five percent of their local budgets for merit pay.

“Some districts would have to move money, that they’re ordinarily using for other things, utilities, transportation, teacher salaries,” Wayne Blanton, with the Florida School Boards Association, said. “It’s all got to go to this one program.”

The sponsor says his bill is misunderstood.

“It does not eliminate tenure for current teachers. It does not eliminate collective bargaining,” Rep. John Legg (R-Port Richey) said.

Many of the changes don’t take place until 2014. Plenty of time, say sponsors, to fix any problems.

There are also two dueling websites telling stories as different as night and day.  The teachers’ story is on Facebook and at www.makeourschoolsapriority.org and the chamber’s side of the story is at www.classroomflorida.com.