Florida Union Challenges Teacher-Bonus Program

It wants higher salaries, instead of cash awards, to be state’s priority.

Florida has announced three plans this year to tie teacher bonuses to improvement in students’ test scores. And all three times the plans have been challenged by the state teachers’ union.

The most recent pay clash comes over a program put in the current education budget by the Florida legislature.

Under that legislation, the state education department is charged with spelling out requirements for the $147.5 million bonus plan, which is designed to provide cash awards for the state’s top teachers. The 130,000-member Florida Education Association, however, has objected to the agency’s...