No they are not. They are selling a dollar today for five dollars tomorrow to people who dont know any better. Thats exploitation. Packaging junk loans as AAA rated and ripping people off is not what the market calls for and is not the fault of the consumer. This argument sort of floors me.

Hate this new education bill that he is going to sign. Better teachers will avoid working here , kids non deserving will pass so to keep teachers pay up , & more. With 2 kids in kindergarten , even in a A rated district this makes me cringe. A bad educational system just got worse. Not a Scott hater at all but this one really bites.

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GASE IS ON THE CASE!!! 2017 , 2018 , 2019 SB CHAMPIONS.

Those who get bailed out by the nanny state.

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Trying to buy a house that the consumer has no business buying by lying about their income is not the fault of the bank, it is the fault of the consumer.



It seems like any argument that puts the responsibility on the individual does.

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Doesn't the bill call for standardized testing to use it to evaluate teacher performance and use that to determine their job status, what type of raise they get etc?

I know it eliminates tenure, which I think is a great thing.

Teachers should be evaluated on the quality of their work, not on how long they've been teaching. Really that should go for any profession.

I don't know the specifics of the bill and have concerns with using standardized testing to decide if kids pass or fail. But I think part of the problem with education is that too many bad teachers are allowed to keep their jobs, especially if they have tenure.

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I agree that tenure should be earned which it is not currently but your just gonna get more teaching to the test and juking of stats.

Oh cmon Rich so your telling me that banks cant check incomes? It was a scam everybody was getting rich and the only people that lost anything in the end was the consumer. The consumer was told they could buy a house they could not afford got the house takin away from them, and their credit score trashed and or loaded with debt. Thats not a consequence? What were the consequences for the banks?

Your saying that as long as there is willing partakers in a bank run scam in which the banks manipulated the market and consumers, that its OK because people that are naive stupid greedy or whatever the reason may be, that those people deserve what they get but the institutions that created the climate for these things to happen is at no fault?

Who got bailed out? Where was the nanny state when markets where manipulated?

My point remains the same incomes have tripled for the rich in less than ten years and they make their money off the backs of consumer spending and debt. In their mind the greedier the consumer the better. The rich have to enable consumer spending by creating a proper environment to do so and that is done through investment and taxes that pay for things like infrastructure to move the masses.

Rich - I agree on the tenure thing but having 2 kids just starting out in the system here I have done alot of research on this. After elementary school (& in some cases even elementary school) schools are war zones. Kids are not there to learn & the parents of these kids could care less. The school serves as a babysitting service so parents can continue being irresponsible. But yet there are teachers who beleive they can make a difference , teach these kids , shape their lives & turn them into responsible adults who will make a positive impact in the community. However for every one in which they succeed at there are plenty more they will fail at. Not the teaches fault at all. So when evaluation time comes they lose out when they just really entered a fight they cannot win.
I have girls & especially as a older parent I cringe when they enter high school.
Its not a pretty sight in these schools & in this instance on this subject Scott is out of touch.

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GASE IS ON THE CASE!!! 2017 , 2018 , 2019 SB CHAMPIONS.

It is extremely difficult to compensate in any way, shape or form for a parent that doesn't care.



There are a lot of teachers who don't care, are there to earn a paycheck, get free healthcare, earn a pension and are almost impossible to fire due to the unions and the cost a school has to go through just to remove an underperforming teacher.

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I guess you've never heard of the HAMP program, the endless extension of unemployment benefits, the stimulus package and the grandaddy of them all... Obamacare.

Stop watching Michael Moore movies.

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Thanks to:

1. Jimmy Carter with the Community Reinvestment Act and

2. President Clinton in 1999 lowering the requirement for income from verifiable to stated in order to get a mortgage, borrowers no longer had to prove how much they make by providing their two previous check stubs while applying for mortgage. I know because I bought a house during this time and all they asked me was to provide them with my job title and my supervisor's name to verify that I work there. Once I provided them with a title that had the word "analyst" in it, they told me that my average salary based on that title was enough to take out a mortgage. When I asked them what my average salary was, it was $20,000 more than what I actually made at the time.

So no, banks no longer had to check incomes to execute a mortgage by law. This was all part of making it easier for EVERYONE to own a home. A longtime liberal dream. Well the thing is everyone shouldn't own a home. Only people who make enough money or manage their money and save to buy a home should own a home.



How many banks and mortgage lenders have closed down or been bought out since 2007? Does Countrywide still exist? No. What about all those big Wallstreet investment firms? Didn't a bunch of them go from being the kings of the block to non-existant overnight?

So there were and continue to be plenty of consequences for banks that issued high-risk loans and invested in toxic assets to make their ledgers look fatter.

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The quality of their work isn't always reflected in the test scores of the students. That's the big problem with the bill, but the backers of it simply don't care about that. You can gauge teacher quality by multiple observations (announced and unannounced) throughout the year. That is what really should be driving any type of merit pay bill.



That is what we have now in Florida. Students must pass the grade 10 FCAT Math/Reading in order to get a regular high school diploma. If you have concerns, then get ready to have more. In order to evaluate other teachers besides English/Math/Reading ones, MORE tests have to be developed. So get ready for more standardized testing to evaluate each and every subject of each and every grade level. That's a lot of tests, don't you think? Now, it is highly unlikely that they are going to make the students responsible for the tests (ie graduation requirements) so we are going to base a hard working teacher's life on whether or not the student feels like trying for the test that has no bearing on them. How many more instructional days are we going to lose to give these tests?

PS: Where is the money to implement this? Nowhere. More good news, Rick Scott is cutting money for education at the same time. Yay.

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So how else can one objectively evaluate a teacher besides test scores? Do you have any other solutions?

And please don't say they should be evaluated on their students grades because those can always be manipulated using curves.



I said I had concerns about students being evaluated using these tests, not teachers. Though I don't think teachers should be evaluated solely on tests, however what are they being evaluated on now? Tenure? Anything???

A student who gets straight A's in all their work and doesn't pass the FCAT shouldn't be held back a year. That's throwing away an entire year's work because of one test.

However, I don't see many, if any scenarios in which a straight A student couldn't pass the FCAT.

The test isn't that difficult.

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In NY we had the regents. I think they were like the FCAT in that no matter how you did all year if you failed the regents you ran the risk of being left back. Alot of kids froze under the pressure & did not do well. I think they might have done away with them like we should do away with the FCAT ... & politicians.

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GASE IS ON THE CASE!!! 2017 , 2018 , 2019 SB CHAMPIONS.

The chirping crickets are deafening.

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Being a teacher who actually cares....I try to connect with every kid in the class. There is a real problem with parents these days. A few things I've heard over the last few years....."my son is gonna play football, he doesn't need goos grades" "If he doesn't pass, you get fired and not payed" "homework didn;t get becasue we were put fot bobo's b-day party last night" "My kid is getting D's and F's, it's hard to help Him/she when I know they will fail". Remember, guys/girls, the same sacks that you work with have kids that I try to teach, the old saying holds true...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I do try my hardest and I've had 3 retainees in 5 yrs, and I teach 3rd grade which is an FCAT year.

I am going to move back to the original topic of Rail...

I don't live in Florida, so take my opinion for what it's worth: Unless you are going to make a system that allows people to live without their cars, people have little or no motivation to use it.

Where I live, there is some rail, but to use it, I would have to drive to the nearest bus station, take 2 buses to get to the train station, then take the train to where I want to go. Alternatively, I can pay to park at the train station, then pay for the train. AND I have to live my life by the limited train schedule. Since I already have a car, already pay for the insurance, it winds up being far cheaper and faster for me to sit in traffic.

Not a good system either way, but unless they are going to expand public transport to the point where I can get rid of my car, I won't use it. And neither will most people.

Rail in the USA is virtually a waste of time.

Well said.