Gov. Charlie Crist, who has said he supports SB 6, has a lot of e-mail in his in-box this morning. Civic Concern, a Gainesville-based group with strong ties to the Democratic Party, sent him a petition signed by more than 8,000 people. It urges House leaders to kill the House version of SB 6 (HB 7189) and Crist to veto it if they do not. The petition reads in part:

While many Floridians agree that we need a better system of accountability, this bill punishes all public school teachers and students, especially those children most at risk. It would jeopardize the quality of public education in Florida, focusing inordinate attention on standardized tests and driving good teachers out of the public schools.
 
Florida would be the first state in the nation to tie teacher compensation (and job security) so closely to standardized test results. Our children won't be taught to think ... they'll just be taught to pass a test. We don't want Florida's classrooms transformed into test-prep factories.

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