Thirty percent of teachers in Miami-Dade public schools stayed home today to protest a proposed law that would create a merit-pay system for teachers and get rid of tenure for teachers hired in the future, according to the Associated Press.
If Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, signs the bill, teachers’ merit raises would be based on how much their students’ scores on standardized tests improved, according to the AP.
Florida’s chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino advocacy group, opposes the bill because the organization says it would hurt teachers of English-language learners, according to a blog at the Orlando Sentinel. LULAC argues in a resolution that the bill would unfairly punish teachers of ELLs for matters beyond their control, such as a student’s home life or the fact that it takes a while to learn English. The organization argues that the bill would discourage teachers from wanting to teach ELLs.