Bargaining

The bargaining session set for tomorrow, March 5th, has been cancelled by administration.
The next bargaining session is April 2 at 2:30 pm. Please drop by, if only for a few minutes, to show your support!

DOE: Notice of Proposed Rule

From Blaine Wall- "In his All College Day address, Dr. Meadows made reference to the proposed changes to the Department of Education rule regarding continuing contracts for college faculty.  Please take the time to read the revised proposed DOE rule by clicking the link below.  The changes are significant and will impact every faculty member.  Should you wish to post your opinion of the proposed change, the DOE’s website has a place to do so."

Notice of Proposed Rule
Department: Department of Education 
Division: State Board of Education 
Rule No.: 6A-14.0411 
Purpose: The purpose of the rule development is to revise the current process and criteria for issuing continuing contracts. In addition, criteria for post-award performance reviews are added, and grounds for termination of continuing contracts are revised to include failure to meet the post-award performance criteria. The effect will be a rule aligned with Florida Statutes.
https://www.flrules.org/gateway/View_Notice.asp?id=12667829

Meet: Cindy App

Department:  Visual Arts

How you came into this subject matter/profession:  I was about 22 and doing some soul searching, trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I "grew up".  I knew it had to involve working with people, having fun and learning.  I chose television production because there would always be demand for video, it involved working with people from all walks of life and it was ever changing so it would keep my attention. Besides, it's fun to start with nothing and end up with cool art. I started teaching as a grad student and realized I truly enjoyed my students and watching them learn and succeed.  Being able to combine teaching and video came about as kind of a happy accident.

Favorite class to teach:  Media Law.  I love teaching students about their rights and responsibilities as artists and the content has a direct bearing on their ability to practice their professions.

How long you’ve been at PSC:  I'm in my 11th year.

Hobbies:  Travel, sailing, snow skiing, camping, hiking, biking, going to music festivals and hanging out with friends, family, my husband and my dog.

Favorite book/movie: I like anything written by Carl Hiaasen and my favorite movie is "Harold and Maude". 

Favorite place on campus:  The Visual Arts Building

Why you joined the Union:  Because it was the right thing to do and it provides me with protections I wouldn't have otherwise. PSCFA is "the" faculty voice here at PSC and we are lucky to have this union, especially given our current managerial, political and economic climates.

2013 Session Outlook: Education

The stage is set for the third act of a 14-year old ideological battle pitting traditional public education supporters against proponents of competition to improve schools.

“I think with or without legislative involvement there is a disruptive intervention coming to our education system: higher ed and K-12,” said House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who sees opportunities to improve education through the use of digital technology.

“It’s like a frontier; we know there’s something great there and we’re going after it,” Weatherford said this week. “Schools and universities are going to be able to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity that technology brings. We have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve.”

The House is working on a proposal, CIS 3, from the Choice and Innovation Subcommittee, to allow more providers to offer online K-12 education. It includes a pilot program that would allow districts to launch schools offering virtual education.

“That idea has some merits, certainly,” said Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, the Democrats' policy chairman. “But you don’t want that component of education -- the digital learning or whatever we are going to call it -- beginning to displace your traditional education in a school setting because it is cheaper.”

Spending on the Florida Virtual School program, a statewide online elementary through high school program has increased from $8 million in 2003 to $214 million this year.

Pafford sees interest in using the Internet to replace classrooms and proposals to expand charter as part of a long-running battle that began with debates over former Gov. Jeb Bush's A+ grading plan for public schools. Act 2 was the uproar created by SB 6 three years ago, a teacher merit pay bill that ended tenure.  Former Gov.Charlie Crist vetoed the measure, resigned from the Republican Party and the next year newly elected Gov. Rick Scott signed SB 736, SB 6’s replacement.

Now, Pafford expects 2013 to feature the opening skirmishes of Act 3, the debate over how far will Florida adopt virtual learning as oppose to brick-and-mortar schools and how big it will allow the charter school industry to grow.  One proposal in the House would require school districts to let charter schools use any building that is below 50 percent capacity.

“There definitely is an ideological discussion on the differences with the way the state treats charter schools and online schools and traditional neighborhood schools,” said Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association. “More and more we’re seeing charter schools and virtual schools getting more resources at the expense of our underfunded neighborhood public schools, while not being required to use the same measurements and meet the same requirements.”

 

Here’s a breakdown of the education issues before the Legislature:

HIGHER EDUCATION

Description: The Governor’s Higher Education package includes $1.1 billion for state colleges and $3.85 billion for universities. The proposal calls for a $118 million base funding increase and 167 million tied to performance incentives for the university system. It includes $15 million for the University of Florida to achieve a national ranking in the top 10.

Outlook:  Scott has embraced education as a means to a better life. Some may find his references to his modest if not stark upbringing as politically motivated but he consistently credits education for the successes he has achieved.  Expect him to stand firm while lawmakers shape his proposal to their liking. Florida State University alums will try to match the $15 million UF grant for their alma mater.

K-12

Description: Scott recommends $10.7 billion in state spending for public schools and an additional $1 billion in early learning funds. The package includes a teacher pay raise, $100 million for digital learning initiatives, $74.9 million for school safety programs and more money for teachers to purchase classroom supplies.  

Outlook: Lawmakers fret about backing away from performance-based raises for teachers and whether the state has the $480 million to spend on teacher raises.  They will tinker with the figures in each silo but expect the Gov.’s proposal to form the basis of what finally emerges at the end of session for education.

CHARTER SCHOOLS

There are at least four proposals filed in each chamber regarding the creation, regulation and expansion of charter schools, independent public schools operated by a nonprofit organization. Charters control their own finances and sometimes contract with a for-profit management company.

SB 862, The Parent Empowerment Act by Sen. Kelli Stargelwould let parents of students in low-performing schools call for a private-management company to take over. A similar parent trigger bill died last year in the Senate on a 20-20 vote. Proponents think that with the new makeup of the Senate they have the votes this year to pass the bill.

SB 744 by Sens. David Simmons, R-Maitland, and Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, would require an applicant wanting to establish a charter school to submit information on annual employee compensation and to demonstrate financial capability to open, operate and maintain a high-quality charter school.

SB 780 and HB 373, Regulates contracts charter schools can sign and compensation for employees, and provides for closing a charter school under certain circumstances.

CIS 1 out of the House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee would require school districts to let charter schools use any building that is below 50 percent capacity.

 

Key Players:

Gov. Rick Scott, in the words of Rep. Pafford, has done a 180-degree turn on education funding. “He’s discovering the importance of teachers,” Pafford said.

Senate President Don Gaetz is a former Okaloosa County school superintendent. He is proposing expansion of the 2007 CAPE Act, which he helped pioneer as superintendent. He calls the proposal historic and concedes it may take two years to pass.

Sen. John Legg, a charter school administrator, helped shape Florida education policies during eight years in the House. He believes in harnessing technology and performance-based evaluations of schools and teachers.

Speaker Will Weatherford embraces digital technology and said it will revolutionize how people learn and educators teach. “I think the state has to figure out how to leverage technology to give more Floridians access to higher quality education, sitting in the comfort of their living rooms,“ he said.

 

Key Committees:

House Education Committee

House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee

House Higher Education and Workforce Subcommittee

House K-12 Subcommittee

Senate Education Committee

House Education Appropriations Subcommittee

Meet: Charlotte Sweeney

Join us for breakfast at ACD

FEA Frontline Report

FEA Frontline Report

Interim Committee Meeting Week

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January 28, 2013

“What exactly are we trying to fix here?”¾ Rep. Irv Slosberg asked during discussions of overhauling the state retirement plans.

The official start of the 2013 Legislative Session is March 5, but interim committee meetings have been ongoing since December.  Little reportable activity has occurred thus far – although this week things began to pick up.  They have now outlined their plans for the Florida Retirement System, started talking about on-line education, and were updated by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) regarding the progress of implementation of SB 736 (which passed during the 2011 Session).

We hope each year the legislature will just leave education alone; that public education can don the cloak of invisibility and successfully hide this one out – no more new crazy schemes and ‘reforms’,  no more ‘help’ -  just let our people teach and work.  No such luck.  Education reform continues to be a hot political topic.

Remember this: at the core of the education reform debate is not so much a disagreement over ideology but rather whether education policy decisions should be made on sound teaching practice and research on learning - or on business plan objectives.  The disagreement boils down to who profits: corporations and their CEOs or our students.

That is the legislative reality we face once again.  Welcome back!

·         Bill Update

Last Friday was the last day legislators are allowed submit their concepts for 2013 bills into bill drafting. That means no other legislative member bills can be submitted for the upcoming session.  Keep in mind, this is not the “filing” deadline but rather the “drafting” deadline.  Final bills must be “filed” and therefore released to the public no later than March 5 at noon.  Committee bills are another story; we’ll talk more about those as Committees begin their work in earnest.  They can be very scary.

At the time this report was compiled, 525 bills had been numbered and filed.  FEA is currently tracking 82 education related bills.  Not all of these bills will ever see daylight.  We will provide more detailed information as bills begin to be placed on Committee agendas.

·         The Implementation of SB 736

This week the House K-12 Subcommittee heard a presentation by the FLDOE regarding the personnel evaluation systems and implementation of the Student Success Act (aka SB 736). The law is slated for full implementation in the 2014-15 school year - the same year Florida fully transitions to Common Core standards.

Some legislators have publicly expressed concerns that the rushed implementation schedule of SB 736, Common Core statewide assessments and increased graduation requirements is a recipe for disaster. Yet, the DOE presentation glossed over the implementation issues and unresolved problems with the various moving parts of the assessment and evaluation systems.  And no one mentioned paying for it all.

FLDOE reported that all 67 school districts have requirements to follow, but they have a lot of flexibility in choosing how to evaluate teachers.  They presented charts and graphs indicating how well VAM was working: “just as we had hoped” (click here to see the report).

The rosy report prompted Rep. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala) to gleefully announce, “Those who say it can’t be done need to get out of the way of those who are doing it. This has come a mighty long way and a lot of undoables are being done here ... seeing what gets measured and what gets done is tremendous.”

Yet, other committee members were skeptical. Rep. Ronald Renuart (R- Ponte Vedra Beach) asked whether the measurements developed so far take into account whether the teacher works in an “F” or an “A” school. He asked for data showing what happened to a teacher’s value-added score when a teacher with an unsatisfactory evaluation in a low-performing school is transferred to a high-performing school. DOE indicated that since the state has just one year of data, it is not yet able to assess the impact.

According to the Florida Current, Renuart later said he wants to ensure the system is fair to teachers.

“I want to make sure a teacher gets a fair assessment if it is going to affect their livelihood,” said Renuart.  Although impressed with the presentation he remarked, “I’m sure once I get back to my district I’ll be hearing some other sides to this.”

Rep. Karen Castor-Dentel (D-Maitland) ¾ one of two actual public school teachers sitting on the committee ¾ questioned the use of VAM to evaluate teachers who do not teach FCAT subjects.  FLDOE responded that the districts had the flexibility to decide what measure to use.

This is just the beginning of conversations around the implementation of SB 736 and other education proposals. Bills are being drafted to make changes to the current law including:

·         A bill (HB 377) to delay implementation of SB 736 has been filed by Rep. Mike Clelland (D-Lake Mary).  We believe a similar bill will be filed in the Senate by Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando).

·         A bill to change the requirements of SB 736 for evaluation of non-FCAT teachers and non-classroom instructional personnel is in bill drafting by Sen. Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville) and Rep. Dwayne Taylor (D-Daytona Beach).  This is the same bill we worked on last year but it was never placed on the committee agenda. No bill numbers have been assigned at this time.

·         A bill to create a “wrap-around services” pilot program has been entered in bill drafting by Rep. Ricardo Rangel (D-Kissimmee).  No bill number has been assigned at this time.

Other FEA legislative priorities will be in the works through the amendatory process. 

·         Start of the 2013-2014 Budget Process

The governor is required to submit a budget proposal each year prior to the legislative session.  Last year he rolled out his ONE BILLION DOLLARS for education plan.  This year the PR gimmick is a $2,500 raise for every public school teacher. Remember – the legislature writes and passes the budget.  The governor’s budget is just a suggestion – the legislature may or may not go along with all or part of it. 

A $2,500 increase in pay would certainly be welcome, but it’s important to put it in its proper context. Starting in July 2011, teachers and ESPs – as well as law-enforcement officers, firefighters and other workers who are in the Florida Retirement System – had 3 percent of their salaries taken away so that the state could balance the budget. In addition, on January 1 of this year, a temporary federal tax break on Social Security and Medicare ended after two years – resulting in more than 2 percent disappearing from the paychecks of teachers and ESPs.

While the governor may propose an across-the-board pay increase, it’s still subject to collective bargaining and districts have to deal with plenty of unfunded mandates and cost increases. The governor has indicated he wants to dedicate money for a teacher pay increase by carving out a special category for it in his proposed budget.

Scott has also indicated that he will make a future announcement regarding pay for ESPs and other proposals, including one that would put more money in the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).

·         House Workshop on ‘State-worker Pension Reform’

NOTE: There is no bill at this time. The House Government Operations Subcommittee discussed a proposal that would shift all future state employees to a 401(k)-style retirement plan.  Committee chairman Rep. Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford) indicated the measure's future could depend on studies of the proposal's financial impact. The committee is waiting for an actuarial assessment that will indicate the long-term impact of reduced contributions going into the FRS Pension Plan before moving forward with the plan.

Rep. Ritch Workman (R-Melbourne), who spearheaded the 2011 changes, said during the 2011 debates that the existing retirement system needed to be fully funded before moving to a 401(k)-style plan. But House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) has said he thinks the state needs to make the switch. And Brodeur said that the state's budget situation is now strong enough to consider the changes.

Brodeur stressed that current employees would not be affected.

The current proposal would:

·         Place all state employees hired after Jan. 1, 2014 would be placed in a defined-contribution plan (Investment or sometimes referred to as 401(K) plans) instead of the defined-benefit plan that most state workers currently join.    

·         Close the Senior Management Optional Annuity Program effective Jan. 1, 2014 (only 30 enrollees statewide)

·         Expand investment options to include an employee directed option (brokerage account)

·         Eliminate the option to apply for disability benefits under the pension plan for new enrollees effective January 1, 2014.

Opponents of the proposal argued that the state's pension plan is one of the best performing in the nation and is financially sound. In fact, FEA and other critics of the measure testified the proposal could cost state taxpayers additional money to set up and fund a defined contribution plan, beginning with $150 million next year and escalating to $450 million within three years.

"What exactly are we trying to fix here?" asked Rep. Irv Slosberg (D-Boca Raton).

As you well know, this is a remnant of the fight two years ago between public employees and mostly Republican supporters of overhauling the state retirement plans. At that time legislators voted to require employees to contribute 3 percent of their income to the retirement plan, but shied away from Gov. Rick Scott's insistence that workers should eventually be shifted to a 401(K) type plan.

"If the study comes back, and it is not where we thought it was going to be, I don't know how much appetite members are going to have to do something like that," Broduer said.

Thanks to Pat Dix for her contributions to this report.

The next committee week begins February 4.