June 15, 2004
No contractor left unpaid
Jeb!’s crew is getting ready for a little union-busting privatization.
Failing public schools would have to recruit top teachers and craft individualized education plans for every student or risk takeover by a private contractor under tough new rules being presented today to the Florida Board of Education, The Herald has learned.Posted by Norwood at June 15, 2004 06:38 AMThe proposed rules could also force local school boards across Florida to suspend union contracts in order to rearrange staff, possibly sending some of the most veteran teachers to the failing schools.
''If the district can't deliver, we're going to do whatever it takes to turn these schools around,'' said Frances Marine, spokeswoman for Education Commissioner Jim Horne.
``Each of these steps are meant to stop the bleeding.''
The state's school grades are set for release this morning, and any school with at least two Fs since 2001 could be forced to follow the eight new regulations.
The rules would be retroactive, applying to the five Miami-Dade schools that have already received two F's -- even if they improve in today's results.
So-called ''double-F'' schools are already required to offer their students transfers to higher-scoring public schools or taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private school.
Under the new rules, they would also be required to build a faculty in which every teacher is certified in his or her subject area and had improved student test scores in prior years.
