The Superintendent of Sarasota County in Florida notes that the state is offering bonuses of $9,000 to “highly effective” teachers, and two-thirds of teachers in his county are “highly effective.” The actual number, he says, might be even higher.
The ratings are based mainly on test scores, although most teachers don’t teach the subjects tested annually. Bonuses do not count towards pensions.
Surely, the Governor doesn’t want to give big bonuses to most teachers.
Florida ranks about 46th in the nation in teachers’ salaries.
The Governor and State Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced their plans to the state’s 67 Superintendents.
Bowden: Legislative priorities have great impact on schools and teachers
Prior to the opening session of the Legislature, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed three education-related executive orders on key topics — the elimination of Common Core standards, a Jobs of the Future initiative and improved safety and security in our schools.
In addition, Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran noted priorities for his office that include teacher bonuses as part of the Best and Brightest program; tuition forgiveness programs for new teachers; Base Student Allocation (BSA) increases and a continued commitment to the Safe Schools program.
Sarasota County Schools…are closely monitoring proposed changes to the Best and Brightest bonus program that has significant impact to teachers in our school district. Currently, the Best and Brightest program provides annual bonuses of $800 for teachers earning an “effective” rating and $1,200 for “highly effective” teachers. In addition, there is another $6,000 for highly effective teachers with an SAT or ACT score at the 80th percentile and above.
Governor DeSantis has proposed to replace the current program with a single $9,000 bonus for highly effective teachers serving at a school whose state grade rose by at least 1 percent and eliminate the SAT/ACT requirement.
Although there are many drawbacks to compensating teachers using bonuses, a $9,000 bonus to recognize the best teachers in our school district is a significant reward. It is clear the state wants to circumvent the collective bargaining process by offering these bonuses, which are not subject to collective bargaining.
The school district and the teachers union are charged with developing a Teacher Evaluation System that identifies teachers as highly effective, effective, developing/needs improvement or unsatisfactory. The state would then use these marks to compensate teachers with a bonus according to their score.
In 2017-18, approximately 67 percent of our teachers were rated highly effective based on the current evaluation system. There are many more teachers in our school district worthy of a highly effective rating; however, the current evaluation system rates them lower.
If the union were to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement and work with district leaders to develop a new and improved evaluating system before the end of the school year, more teachers would be eligible for the $9,000 bonus this year as recommended by the governor — that’s a significant bonus!
Sarasota County Schools is blessed to have incredibly dedicated teachers who work to inspire our students every day. They deserve to be recognized and compensated to the fullest extent possible based on state requirements.
I am hopeful the school district and union officials can come to the table soon as both contracts are set to expire at the end of this school year. The goal is to reward our teachers and classified staff for their hard work and dedication.
In addition, I hope we can join forces to effect positive change in Tallahassee as the Legislature works to create fundamental adjustments to the education system.
I look forward to continued conversations with state leaders, school superintendents and the union to help our A-rated school district be even more effective for our students, staff and community.
Dr. Todd Bowden is the superintendent of Sarasota County Schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How about no stupid test? Just give the teachers a raise?
I don’t like this at all … too many ‘unintended’ consequences. Think of all that $$$$$ wasted on another test. Good GAWD.
and surely somebody out there will be trying to make GAWD into the next big testing acronym…
Hmmmm … so teachers write the test for their own demise. Good one.
Bonuses are a less valuable alternative to providing teachers with actual raises that will contribute to teachers’ pensions. The fact that the bonus is dependent on test scores implies that more homogeneous counties like Sarasota will have more teachers eligible for the token payout. I can guarantee that many fewer teachers that serve Alachua County which has a very diverse, poor population will be getting big checks in their take home pay. The Sarasota teachers deserve a raise and so do other Florida districts. The main difference is the population they serve. The DeSantis plan seems like a way to pay teachers in majority white districts more than those that serve poorer, more diverse communities.
The Brightest and Bestest
Give them a bonus
The Brightest and Bestest
Said Governor’s boneheads
And fire the restest!
“Boneheads” is an apt word for the administration. DeSantis ignores the fact that bonuses never work, and they are patently unfair to those that work with the neediest students.
Great poem!
Thanks
But I neglected to mention that the *The Brightest and Bestest * is Duane Swackers term. (Thanks Duane!)
But this blog is a group effort, right?
So….. make sure you don’t teach the kids who live with childhood stress, malnutrition, problems with sleep or drink Flint water.becuase, even though they make progress, it won’t be enough. You will get paid less.. ,
Hello Diane,
I have really enjoyed and admired your work. I find myself at age 62 in a school that appears to be in the process of being “disrupted.” Since 1950, we had the strongest middle school in Washington State. Our test scores were normally at the very top, but never less than third, and our music and science programs were outstanding. For example, right now we have science/music students at Stanford , Princeton, Juilliard, and the Curtis institute, and one of these kids just won the Akers prize for being the top physics student in the country.
My colleague has many awards in music, including one for being the best Jazz instructor in North America, awarded by Downbeat Magazine. I have a paltry award from Phi Beta Kappa called the “Pathfinder Award.” Other recipients of this award are Quincy Jones and Seattle Symphony conductor Gerard Schwartz. My little Middle School orchestra has performed compositions that I didn’t get to play until college. Tchaikovsky and Dvorak concertos and Serenades, Bartok Divertimento and the Shostakovich String Symphony. These were absolutely spectacular achievements.
Nevertheless our programs and our neighborhood schools are being destroyed, and the families that traditionally have made up our school have been moved to new, fancier “Highly Capable” programs, which are private schools at public expense for the wealthiest families in town, while our school is being loaded down with students with a wide variety of mental health issues. These range from perversion, to defiant disorders, including students who wander the halls and have to be apprehended by the security officers to good students from homes where older sibings deal drugs until 4am. One student threw scissors at the face of another student directly under a surveillance camera, but his parents defended and manipulated the system. It is torture.
Please understand that I am more than happy to help these students, but I object to Seattle Schools using high needs kids to destroy an old successful and beloved school.
So I am writing to you because I don’t know the best way to proceed. What should I do? What can I do?
Thanks for all of you excellent work.
Best regards, Brad Smith Seattle Schools 425-890-8574
Bradley,
Your school is being disrupted (reformed) to prove that public schools don’t work and must be turned over to private hands. What can you do? Speak, write, lead demonstrations, organize parents and teachers. Fight back.
If the Florida teacher shortage is any indication, I think teachers are getting the message not just to leave schools where students experience the kinds of things you mentioned, but to leave ALL Florida schools.
Not just Florida. They are leaving schools across the country and the problem will only get worse. When veteran educators,(20-30 years) retire, there will not be anyone to replace them.