News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

Republicans in the Florida House have toned down their campaign to eliminate teacher tenure--the Sunshine State's practice of automatically renewing teacher contracts.

After House Republicans failed April 10 to muster support for a bill that would have allowed school administrators to fire incompetent teachers without explanation, the provision was dropped.

A softened version of the bill, which was written and passed by the Senate in mid-March, would shorten to a few months the time needed to fire poorly performing teachers; the process now can take up to three years. Under current law, after teaching full time teachers are granted multiyear employment contracts that are automatically renewed unless school officials can prove a teacher is not performing up to standard. Critics say the contracts virtually...