Florida bill would ease removal of bad teachers, boost parents' power By Linda Kleindienst Sun-Sentinel, South Florida   TALLAHASSEE, FL - Bad teachers could be removed from the classroom more easily -- and parents would be given a voice in the decision -- under a package of education reform bills that won tentative approval in the Senate on Wednesday. ``This will assist school boards in identifying and removing the poor teachers,'' said Tom Young, general counsel for the Florida Education Association-United, one of the state's two teacher unions. ``It also gives parents a stronger voice while still preserving fair dismissal procedures.'' Senators are expected to give the final nod today to bills that would toughen statewide graduation standards, give a salary boost to the best educators, raise expectations for classroom teachers and establish college-ready diplomas. A similar package is pending in the House. ``We as a Senate have said that we consider education to be the most important issue facing us this year,'' said Education Chairman John Grant, R-Tampa. ``No area is more important than achievement and professionalism. We can't give diplomas to students who can't read them.'' The Legislature last year passed a package of graduation standards requiring students to have at least a C average (2.0 grade point average) to earn a diploma instead of the D-plus (1.5 GPA) now required by state law. But Gov. Lawton Chiles vetoed the bill because it included a provision allowing prayer at extracurricular school events, including graduation. In the interim, many school districts around the state have imposed the higher standards, which also require students to pass Algebra I or a similar level math course in order to graduate. This year lawmakers decided to tackle what has often been considered the sacred cow of education -- tenure. Critics say tenure protects all but the most incompetent teachers. Of the state's 119,000 teachers, only 58 were fired last year. ``Competent teachers want to teach side-by-side with professionals,'' Grant said. ``Students deserve professional instructional personnel.'' Under current law, teachers are considered on probation for their first three years in the classroom and can be fired at the end of any year without cause. Once they've been in the system for three years, it takes at least a year -- and usually a long administrative battle -- to fire a teacher who is found to be incompetent. The bill (SB 340) that senators are expected to approve today would place new teachers and administrators on a 97-day probationary period, during which they could be dismissed at any time. And teachers hired after this school year would be subject to annual review in order to keep their contracts. The measure would also allow parents to have input into the teacher evaluation process, and would give parents and teachers a say on administrators' evaluations. In a 28-12 vote, senators also agreed that local school boards should be able to set the standards they want their own teachers to meet. ``Let each school board decide where they want to set the bar,'' said Sen. Buddy Dyer, D-Orlando. Senators added a provision saying a teacher's contract should be non-renewed only for ``just cause, failure to meet school-board prescribed performance standards or for failure to correct performance deficiencies.'' ``An employee who is not renewed in his contract should know the reason why and that should be connected to his job performance,'' said Sen. Tom Rossin, D-West Palm Beach.''That should be basic to anything you do in business or government.'' Broward School Board member Miriam Oliphant said school boards want to set their own standards and then use them to judge how teachers perform. ``If you're going to do it with your students, you need to do it with your teachers,'' she said. Visit the Sun-Sentinel, South Florida, on the World Wide Web.