NYT: Florida House Approves Ending Tenure for New Teachers

Florida House Approves Ending Tenure for New Teachers

New York Times, By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: March 16, 2011

MIAMI — A bill to end tenure for new teachers and link their job security and pay to how well students perform on assessment tests cleared the Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday and now goes to the new governor, Rick Scott, a Republican who strongly supports the measure.

Taking on the teachers’ union, House Republicans used their supermajority to handily approve the legislation, which will dramatically change the way teachers in Florida are hired, fired and rewarded. This was a sharp departure from last year when a slightly tougher version of the bill prompted large demonstrations by Florida teachers and was ultimately vetoed by Mr. Scott’s predecessor, Charlie Crist, who said educators had been excluded from the process.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/us/17florida.html?ref=education