Calling the bill moving through the Florida Senate "broad and harsh," Florida Education Association president Andy Ford said in a statement Monday morning that if the proposal makes it into law, the state's best teachers "won't be in our classrooms much longer."

The legislation "would do everything from crippling the idea of community control of public schools to no longer considering a teacher’s experience or advanced degrees in salaries to foisting even more standardized tests on our schools," the teachers union asserts. "The bill threatens to push experienced teachers out of the classroom and place students in classrooms with teachers of little experience."

With an 11-page PowerPoint presentation, the union points out that Florida teachers don't really have tenure and it's actually possible to fire an incompetent teacher now, without changing the law. It simply requires administrators to do their job better.

The Senate bill hits the Pre-K-12 committee this week, with power hitters including Sens. John Thrasher, Steve Wise, Don Gaetz and Nancy Detert as sponsors. It's likely to pass with few changes. But expect a different looking bill with similar intent in the House, which could lead to compromises for anything to get to the governor's desk.

And that's where GOP leaders want this idea to get, as part of their effort to show their support for the Race to the Top grant that calls for changes to teacher evaluation and pay. Stay tuned.

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