Lawmakers consider paying teachers on curve

Education Commissioner Jim Horne pitches a new pay structure aimed at attracting - and retaining - top teachers for Florida's public schools.

©Associated Press
February 7, 2003

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida needs to find 160,000 new teachers in the next 10 years and be willing to pay its best as much as $100,000 a year to stay in the classroom, Education Commissioner Jim Horne told a Senate panel Thursday.

"We've got to bring back some self-esteem to this profession," Horne told the Senate Education Committee. "Put 'em back on a pedestal."

He said other states are raiding Florida to find teachers.

"California, for example, has opened a recruitment office in our state to steal our teachers," he said. "I think we need to recognize we can no longer count on having the ability to attract other teachers from other states."

Horne said dramatic changes attract and keep qualified teachers in Florida.

He called for extending the delayed retirement program for three years to retain quality, veteran instructors and suggested a new structure that would pay nationally certified "craftsman" teachers six-figure salaries.

Horne, a certified public accountant, suggested a structure for teachers similar to one used in his profession.

He would create four levels, starting with first-year associate, serving under a high-performing veteran. The second level would be a fully certified teacher, eligible for performance bonuses. Next would be senior teachers eligible for multiyear contracts. Finally, there would be mentors, nationally certified instructors who guide colleagues and would be eligible for performance pay and a salary supplement.

"I hope we're willing to have the courage to tackle this issue," Horne said, urging lawmakers to revamp the system.

This may be the year.

"It incentivizes the attributes you want in a teacher," House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, said this week about paying more for quality teachers. "It's pretty simple economics that you're going to have to pay the market rate to get who you want."

Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, also endorses the concept, but expects a battle with teachers' unions on creating different pay steps for teachers.

However, Maureen Dinnen, president of the Florida Education Association, said the union would look at anything that would benefit teachers.

"I guess the battle is on agreeing what the criteria are," she said. "We would not look at this and just dismiss it out of hand."

However, she said all teacher salaries should be raised before new levels are created. "We don't pay teachers enough, period," she said.

Gov. Jeb Bush said starting salaries are too low.

"But it's hard to do that at the state level," he said Thursday. "It would circumvent some of the collective bargaining rights that are embedded in the Constitution."

By state law, school districts are responsible for setting salaries. In 2001-02, the pay varied from a low of $22,000 in the Big Bend and Panhandle regions to $32,500 in South Florida.

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