By Joe Williams, Executive Director
This is where we outline seven red hot deals that we think are out there to be had in the education reform world. They are so ripe they would make Monty Hall drool. No brainers, a-duh’s, etc. Of course, like any deal In the real world, these will be ripe for criticism from Monday Morning Bloggerbacks, but they nonetheless represent important progress that we here at DFER happen to think is achievable.
So play along at home and you, too can experience the bliss that policy sausage-making can bring. Who wants to make a deal?
1. Tenure reform in Florida in exchange for letting teacher reps have a say in how new, improved teacher evaluations will be rolled-out. “We don’t like the current evaluations either,” Florida Education Association President Andy Ford told legislators last week when we both were testifying on anticipated reform bills coming this session.
I’m telling you, after all of the blood and tears last year surrounding Florida’s controversial Senate Bill 6 (which passed in both houses but was vetoed in extravagant fashion by former Republican Charlie Crist, in an obvious attempt to seek the teacher union’s backing in an uphill election battle) calmer heads appear to be prevailing this year. A new governor who seems likely to approve whatever the legislature sends him on tenure reform, combined with a legislature that is making all the stops to more carefully consider the voices of dissent, makes for some fertile ground this year for a reasonable and practical deal to be cut which could significantly raise the bar for excellence in Florida’s public schools
There just doesn’t appear to be serious/major differences,which can’t be resolved by reasonable people on this one, showing once again how much the education reform climate has changed in the last 12 months. As Ford put it in his testimony: “What a difference a year makes.”
Look for Florida (and its public school teachers) to regain its footing as a leader in the public education reform race by mid-April.