Tampa Bay teachers protest HB 7055

About 150 teachers from across the Tampa Bay region gathered Monday in Land O'Lakes, just up the street from House Speaker Richard Corcoran's district office, to protest Corcoran's priority education legislation.

Among other provisions, HB 7055 includes a proposal to decertify teacher bargaining units that do not have at least half of eligible employees as members.

At 198 pages long, the House version also includes a variety of other measures that teachers do not support, suggesting that the Legislature is trying to starve and privatize public education.

The Senate, which takes up the bill on Tuesday in its Education Committee, has put forth its own 115-page replacement amendment as the give and take between chambers begins. Teachers had hoped the Senate would kill the union certification piece, but so far it looks like that language could survive the committee.

Here's a short video of the teacher protest, organized by the United School Employees of Pasco to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Florida's 1968 statewide teacher walkout.