New teacher bonus plan supplants Jeb Bush’s program in Florida

Surrounded by cheering lawmakers, school administrators and teachers union representatives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, Gov. Charlie Crist repealed predecessor Jeb Bush’s teacher bonus plan and replaced it with one with less emphasis on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), given to students in grades 3-11. Bush’s Special Teachers Are Rewarded program would have given a minimum 5% bonus to the top 25% of teachers, based whenever possible on the FCAT scores of their students. The new Merit Award Program will give between 5% and 10% bonuses to as many as half of all teachers, with 60% of a teacher’s assessment based on the FCAT and the rest on other factors. Read the article at PalmBeachPost.com.