Florida conservatives have some really bad ideas about reforming education

One of the Florida bills would do away with teacher tenure. A new teacher would be on probation for five years and then be offered a one year contract.

Essentially teachers will serve 'at will' like people in corporations except for the extended probation.

Tallahassee also plans to expand the vouchers program. The vouchers issue is touchy because it can result in a government subsidy for private schools which would not withstand a court challenge. Florida has a vouchers program at this time but is restricted to kids with disabilities that need to be placed into smaller classrooms.

Rightardia would imagine the older teachers will hang on until they reach retirement age while Many of the younger teachers will move to other states.

Many young people enter teaching because they do not want to be corporate serfs. They like the collaboration with master teachers which has suffered when Republicans instituted competitive pay. Now teachers are less open and secretive about their teaching methods.

Who will end up losing the most: the students, of course.

Florida also modified the Bright Futures scholarship program. Students must now have a 3.5 grade point average instead of 3.0 to qualify as well as placing in the top 10 per cent of test takers on the SAT or ACT exam.

The Major taught at the high school and college level after he retired from the Air Force. He would advise all prospective teachers to consider teaching at the college level rather than high school. The classes are smaller and teachers have a lot more independence.

We do not think the legislators in Tallahassee are qualified to tell teachers how they do their jobs. We suspect the radical counter-reforms will produce teacher walk-outs and strikes.

Will the Floridian teachers have the intestinal fortitude to take on Tallahassee? Rightardia has it doubts.

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