By Brandon Larrabee 11:34 PM on Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010
TALLAHASSEE — A bill to revamp teacher contracts and pay in Florida passed its first test Wednesday, gaining approval from the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee on a party-line vote.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, passed the panel 6-2 after a sometimes contentious hearing in which Democrats and teachers organizations criticized the proposal as anti-educator while Republicans touted it as a key step in education reform.
“This is about teachers, but ultimately it’s about students,” Thrasher told fellow lawmakers before the vote.
Thrasher’s bill, filed last week , would base half of a teacher’s salary on student performance while extending to five years the period during which a new teacher can be fired at the end of each school year without cause.
