As if Marco Rubio wasn’t kicking Charlie Crist’s butt bad enough. Today RINO Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill that would have tied teacher’s raises to student’s performance and end tenure for new hires.
St. Petersburg Times: […] Calling it "significantly flawed," Crist decried Senate Bill 6, which would link teacher pay to student test scores and eliminate tenure for all new hires, as both overreaching and too vague.
"We must start over," he said.[…]
Crist's noontime announcement came as little surprise. Although he initially voiced support for the bill, he had distanced himself as protests mounted. He insisted his decision was not influenced by his faltering primary race for the U.S. Senate.[…]
"This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, our parents and our students," Crist said. "They are not confident in our system because they do not believe their voices were heard."
Under the bill, half of a teacher's evaluation would depend on their students' learning gains. Good gains would equal positive evaluations and pay raises, which teachers said failed to factor the work that doesn't show up on tests — and ignores other forces that affect kids.
Tenure would have been out of the question for new teachers, which Crist highlighted in his problems with the bill.[…]
Clearly this maneuver will do nothing to help Charlie Crist catch up to Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. I think we should consider this veto as a telling sign that Charlie Crist will try to run as an independent in the general election.
Quinnipiac: Gov. Crist leads Meek 48 - 34 percent in a general election matchup, while Rubio's margin over the Democrat is just 42 - 38 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey finds.
If Crist were to file as an independent for the general election, he would get 32 percent of the vote, compared to Rubio's 30 percent and Meek's 24 percent.
Another indication that Crist may go the independent route is that there is a rumor that the Florida Education Association might be running attack ad against Rubio for Crist.
The Shark Tank: There are rumors of a deal in place between the Florida Education Association (FEA) and Charlie Crist for the union to run one million dollars of attack ads against Marco Rubio, Crist’s opponent in the U.S. Senate primary. This would be in violation of FEC laws, as campaigns cannot coordinate with 501c non-profit organizations. Call us cynical, but we must inquire- was this whole legislative spectacle orchestrated from the get-go by the Governor and other interested parties to allow Crist to play the role of the hero by intervening at the height of this drama and veto this largely unpopular measure- thus winning him the support of the teacher’s union (at least temporarily), and enabling him to be viewed as an independent maverick who bucks his own party, making himself more appealing to centrists and Democrats? Inquiring minds want to know.
Shades of Arlene Sepecter, do anything to get elected.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: St. Petersburg Times
Via: Quinnipiac
Via: The Shark Tank