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Teacher pay bill returns

By Lynn Hatter

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-949743.mp3

Tallahassee, FL – A new bill tying teacher pay to student learning has been filed in the Senate. The measure is a continuation of last year's failed merit pay proposal Senate Bill Six, but as Lynn Hatter reports, the new bill's sponsor says this time around lawmakers are determined to get it right.

Under Senate bill 736, part of a teacher's pay would be based on how much their students learn. The bill does away with long-term professional contracts, called tenure, and replaces it with three-year renewable ones. Senator Steven Wise, a Republican from Jacksonville, says this time around, the legislature is doing things differently.

"We're not exactly voting this out of committee right now. We're having hearings on it, we're looking at it to make sure there aren't any dangling participles."

When the legislature tried to pass a similar bill last year it was met with opposition from teachers, who said they were locked out of the process. Different education groups have been meeting for over a year to work on the bill.