Grit, determination and grass-roots action made the difference for Florida AFT members, who succeeded in defeating controversial legislation in their state that would have used student test scores to target teacher rights and collaborative education reform.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced that he would veto the bill on April 15, after speaking with hundreds of teachers across the state and receiving more than 100,000 letters and e-mails opposing the bill, known as S.B. 6. (See earlier story.) It would have based more than half of teacher pay on student test scores and would have placed educators’ certifications at risk if they failed to show “effective performance”” based on those scores.