Is Charlie Crist Turning His Back on Teachers?

According recent article posted on Jacksonville.com, tensions continue to run high on teacher merit bills this season.

A key committee sent one of the most controversial bills of the legislative session to the House floor on a party-line vote Monday evening after an often emotional meeting that stretched on for nearly eight hours.

The GOP-dominated House Education Policy Council voted 12-5 to approve the measure overhauling teacher contracts after hearing from dozens of witnesses, many of them teachers or administrators opposed to the bill.

If the bill clears the House without amendment, it will go directly to Gov. Charlie Crist for his signature or veto. An amendment would require another trip to the Senate, which narrowly approved the bill 21-17 last month.

Crist suggested again Monday that he will sign the bill.
The measure, originally sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, would do away with several teacher employment protections for new teachers and base future pay increases on student achievement. It would also overhaul teacher certification and teacher preparation programs at Florida colleges.

The meeting was often emotional, with teachers and audience members clapping or waving their hands as a sign of support to speakers with whom they agreed.
Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said about 120 people had signed up to speak. Todd Byars, a former teacher of the year in Leon County, was escorted out of the committee room by Capitol officials after an outburst when testimony was finally cut off.  See Jacksonville.com for the rest of their coverage.

Todd Byars is well known among teachers on Facebook groups opposing the recent SB6 bill, better known among the public as the teacher merit-pay bill. There are at least 11 teacher groups on Facebook, the largest with over 74,000 members.  One can imagine the outrage this will spark if Crist signs this bill into law.