Polls like this one and this one suggest teachers really, really like the idea of getting paid more for working in schools that struggle more. So why is it that few Florida districts (Hillsborough aside) have even attempted meaningful programs that do that?

State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, whose notions on differential pay sparked today's story in the St. Petersburg Times, offered this anecdote: Last year, an HR director in one district asked him if there are any penalties for ignoring the Legislature's 2006 directive, buried in the A++ plan, that requires every district to come up with a differential pay plan. The answer: No.

So the HR director continued: "If I try to get a differentiated pay system, I have to go into the valley of the shadow of the union. And I have all kinds of other things I have to worry about."

Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the state teachers union, said the obstacle to differential pay isn't the union, it's financial constraints and middling teacher salaries. "Teachers in Florida get paid way less (than many states)," he said. "That's a factor in it for sure."

- Ron Matus, state education reporter