In the past, we wrote about actions by then Washington DC Chancellor of Schools, Michelle Rhee, who was turning around the DC schools by firing poor teachers, using merit pay, standing up to union demands and other drastic actions.
Now, Rick Scott has selected her as a member of the Education reform transition team for Florida. Wanna bet she is appointed head of the Florida Education system? I would think poor teachers, and teacher unions will get aggravated over this.
So, wouldn't you know, the local Lake County School District unions are already asking to start bargaining sessions for next fiscal year's budget allocations for wages and benefits. Unlike businesses, which base wage increases on merit and comparison to economic and competitor statistics, the unions start out by asked how much is in the budget, then go after as much as they can get.
It will be interesting to watch what happens, and see if Board members actually use REAL wage and economic data to evaluate the "merit" of any wage increases. (If they did, the wages would be rolled back or benefits reduced and employee contributions for benefits increased.)
Here is Scott's transition website and the press release on the committee members.
http://www.scotttransition.com/2010/12/governor-elect-rick-scott-taps-nationally-recognized-education-leaders-to-help-improve-florida%E2%80%99s-education-system/
I also found that Scott has a webpage to collect ideas from the public how to reduce Florida government costs. It is HERE: http://www.scotttransition.com/send-your-ideas/
Check out the page and submit your ideas.
vj