FLORIDA SB6: Education is NOT a Business

Posted by Marsha on March 28, 2010

I am a Florida teacher.  The passing of Bill SB6 has left me speechless.  I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut and still can’t catch my breath.  WHEN will educators be asked to take part in the decision making process?   When will politicians understand that education is not a business.  A business can pick and chose who it does business with, who it buys from, and sells to.  Public education does not pick its customers.  WE EDUCATE ALL.  Businesses base their success on yearly averages; not one sale or job.  And, success can be measured by various benchmarks (bottom line, sales closed, number of new customers, number of repeat customers, etc).    THIS bill places everything on ONE performance measure.   Teachers have increasingly less control over how they teach.  They are already told what book to use, how to use it, and even what page to teach from on what day of the week.  Teachers work hard to reach every kid all year long, whether they are in “A” schools or struggling schools.   Now they will be forced to teach to the instruments that will determine their job security.  Isn’t that what a business person would do if faced with a do or die situation?  If I have a quota and a deadline to reach, aren’t I going to direct my attention toward meeting it?  And, to maintain my edge, might I try to corner the best customers, hide my best techniques from my competition (even if they are office mates)?   None of which is unethical or illegal, but rather good business, right?  Business does have its place in education, just not in the classroom.

Here is another thing I don’t understand… WHY do politicians think teachers are going to be motivated by money?  If we were so motivated by the mighty dollar, we would not have chosen education as our profession to begin with!  I am not suggesting that things are perfect in our schools.  I am saying that merit pay is not the magic bullet that will motivate teachers and thus increase student achievement.  Teachers want to be the best they can be, money should be spent on helping them achieve that goal with programs that mentor, support and provide quality staff development (and I don’t consider learning how to use district adopted text books quality staff development), rather than on initiatives that only  demoralize their spirit and pitt  their sense of fairness against their ability to make a living.

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