Candidate raises prospect of new S.B. 6, on teacher tenure

Posted Sep 1, 2010 by Shannon Behnken

Updated Sep 1, 2010 at 01:58 PM

Loranne Ausley, the Democrat who wants to be Florida’s chief financial officer, held a news conference in Tallahassee today to announce a petition against what she calls “Senate Bill 6.1.”

Senate Bill 6 was the teacher pay and tenure bill vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this year after emotional protests from teachers and some parents.

Ausley says she’s heard that Republicans want to bring back a version of the bill.  No matter what it may look like, Ausley is turning it into a campaign issue in her race for CFO against Sen. President Jeff Atwater, a Republican.

Ausley says his support for the bill shows how different the two candidates are.

“This bill is the last thing our schools need,” she said.

The original bill would have based half a teacher’s review on learning gains by students, base pay on the evaluation, and put new teachers on one-year contracts with no chance fpr parole.

Ausley was joined by principals and PTA members from nearby Tallahassee schools.