Jill, reality and politics never intersect in Florida. We have had to put initiatives on the ballot to get the few improvements that we have achieved in the system. The people who can afford to run for the legislature, which is a part-time, two month/year job, guarantees that most of the legislation produced is created by special interest groups.
]]>Kids aren’t products that come off the factory line. Many things affect the ability for learning, not just the ability of the teacher.
.-= last blog ..Happy Pi Day =-.
The teachers won’t bother to strike, they’ll quit, and while the temps may fulfill the state’s requirements, the state will lose Federal funding. NCLB is a major factor in pushing teachers to “update their skills”.
They can’t just turn it over to the fundies, because the fundies had a Blaine amendment put in the state constitution to make sure those nasty Catholics didn’t get any state money, so the fundies can’t get it either.
This is more re-election sound-bite legislation, as well as the Republicans eternal for “magic bullets” that will solve problems without doing any real work. Republicans are the laziest animals on the planet.
]]>So from the point of view of the Christian Taliban who run Florida, a teacher strike would be a win-win for them. They could get rid of all those pesky certified teachers who, like, teach those fact thingies rather than that Jesus rode dinosaurs, and they would reduce school spending drastically because hiring dregs off the street on temp tickets costs a lot less than experienced certified teachers. What could go wrong? Other than a generation of kids even worse-educated than today’s generation, which, in their view, is a feature, not a flaw?
– Badtux the Education Penguin
.-= last blog ..Knee-capping the young =-.
That says it all. Don’t like the contract your employees negotiated with you in good faith last year? Just unilaterally abrogate it. If you are asked how you can do that, say, “We lied. So sue us.” You know the courts won’t help teachers against you.
If this actually goes forward, I see only one viable solution: STRIKE! Shut down the whole fucking district. Let them deal with all the angry parents who have to cope with their kids at home. Fill up the jails if necessary. The unilateral rescinding of a contract is a really big deal, deserving a response so strong the legislature and school board will never forget.
]]>– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
.-= last blog ..Knee-capping the young =-.