Last night, at 2:30 am, our Florida Legislature passed a bill to tie teacher performance pay to student achievement. The bill has several flaws, but was deemed "good enough" to make into law. What happened to listening to the people who put you in office? What happened to being a VOICE for the PEOPLE?

Guess our politicians weren't listening. Maybe they WERE listening, but they just didn't hear.

I would never, in my wildest dreams, propose to change a profession that I knew nothing about. I could never imagine going into my parents' moving company and pulling the rug out from under them in regards to their business practices. It has worked for them, and they are successful. WHO AM I to go in and change how they answer phones, write up bids and proposals, bill people, or store items? WHO ARE THEY that come into the education profession and deem what an "ineffective teacher" is?

Teachers come in all shapes and sizes. Some teachers teach math and can show data which proves if the students have made "gains". Some teachers teach profoundly mentally or physically ill students who have a goal by the time they are 16 to toilet themselves. How to they plan to measure that teacher's effectiveness? Who knows. What a joke. Now it is up to our Governor to VETO HB7189.

I wear black today to mark the demise of education in Florida. What a shame. You will be missed!