9486 in the collection
Florida's War on Teachers
This letter was circulated at one Miami-Dade Public School yesterday.
Just say "no" to handing out those high stakes tests which lawmakers are making higher stakes than ever.
Dear Brother & Sisters:
The St. Petersburg Times reports this morning that for the first time in over a decade that Florida's pension fund, our retirement fund as teachers and public school workers, ran a deficit of $30 billion in 2009 and that the shortfall is expected to become worse this year. You can link to the full story here:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/states-pension-fund-running-a-deficit-for-first-time-since-1997/1082247
I have no desire to be "alarmist" but this is another piece of evidence, along with SB6, that calls into question some of our most closely held beliefs about our place in Florida's system of public schools. For instance, that we can expect any measure of job security or job protection at all, and that if we do our jobs and play by the rules that we will be treated fairly, and that at the end of a long career the Florida Retirement System's pension fund will be solvent and able to make the retirement payments we've earned.
I wish luck to all those who will contact their legislators or lobby them in Tallahassee during this year's legislative session. I wish luck to all those willing to march around the Capitol in demonstrations of protest. I wish luck to all those who will vote in November for better representation. But I'm not optimistic about any of those activities being effective. Seems like big money calls the shots in Florida now and on our meager salaries we can't match the lobbyists and the corporate campaign contributors. I'm afraid that we teachers will continue to be made scapegoats and attacked until we take dramatic action in our classrooms to protect ourselves. We go and play in "their house" when we contact or go to Tallahassee. Let's make them for once play in "our house".
The Republican legislators seemed determined to push through Jeb Bush's SB6 and they probably will. But the tests called for in the bill have to be passed out in our classrooms to our students while we stand as proctors. What if most of the 168,000 public school teachers from Pensacola to Key West just said "no" to those tests? I'm sure the governor and the legislators and the school boards would be quite upset. But they'd finally understand that we are serious about protecting ourselves and our families. And what would they do about it? Fire all of us? I guess they could try. Shutdown the public schools? Maybe so. Give the 2,587,500 public school students a chance to roam the streets of their communities? Maybe. Call out the National Guard to staff the schools? Could be if they take leave of their senses and embrace insanity completely.
Seems to me like they would more likely just sit down and talk with us in the respectful manner our faithful service has earned. Seems like if they knew that's what we would do beforehand they wouldn't even bother with SB6.
Coach Moore
P.S. I did call it "Jeb Bush's SB6". I bet you thought the former governor was out of the picture. Au contraire. To this day Bush is the single most powerful force in terms of setting Florida education policy. The sponsor of SB6, Sen. John Thrasher from Jacksonville, is one of Jeb's errand boys and is taking his direction from the two education foundations that Jeb Bush has established.
— Paul Moore
Letter
2010-03-25
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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