Palm Beach County teachers deride Gov. Jeb Bush's incentive plan

[seafan]

Palm Beach County teachers deride Gov. Bush's incentive plan

By Marc Freeman
Posted January 24 2006


Give teachers higher salaries before laptop computers.

That was the reaction from South Florida teachers union officials and Democratic state legislators to Gov. Jeb Bush's $239 million proposal on Monday for programs and technology aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers.
"If you are going to do something real, do a decent wage for teachers if you want to keep them," said Theo Harris, president of Palm Beach County's 7,500-member Classroom Teachers Association.

The governor's plan calls on lawmakers this spring to approve funds that school districts could use for teacher signing bonuses, housing assistance, and payment of student loans, among other incentives.

snip

n a statement, house Democratic leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, said, "It is sad that despite seven years of urging, the governor still fails to see that Florida's teachers' salaries are completely inadequate. ... "

The Broward Teachers Union, in a separate e-mail to reporters, wrote, "If Gov. Bush is really serious about teacher recruitment and retention, he would address the fact Florida ranks 22nd in the nation when it comes to offering competitive beginning teacher salaries."

snip

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pteachers24jan24,0,4592427.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

[seafan]

1. Here's the real kicker behind Jeb's twisted logic:

snip

..Education Commissioner John Winn defended the governor's ideas.

He said, "It's absolutely a mistake to use money as a hook to get teachers because you don't want teachers who are just interested in money."

"I'm all for improving teacher pay. ... That being said, our marketing experts said that teachers do not get into teaching for pay," Winn explained. "They want to make a living wage, OK, but that's not what motivates them to get into teaching. If you want to , you get into business."


How does THAT grab you, folks?

What he is saying: We refuse to pay adequate teacher salaries because they didn't expect to be paid well anyway, when they chose this profession.


We need relief soon from this bunch of greed-driven criminals.

[Child_Of_Isis]

2. I think that logic should be applied to our politicians. eom