Children have been flooding Republican senators with phone calls and handwritten letters, urging them to defeat an effort that would institute performance pay for Florida teachers. But the Senate Majority Office insists it's the teachers and the teachers unions -- not the children -- who are behind those requests.

The office received the majority of the calls and letters on Friday, two days after the Senate voted 21-17 to pass SB 6, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville. The bill, which is now heading to the House, ties teacher salaries to student performance on end-of-course assessments, abolishes teacher tenure and authorizes a yearly contract system.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, received roughly 30 voicemails that appear to be from children, said Jaryn Emhof, Atwater’s press secretary.

The Majority Office hasn’t tallied how many messages it received, but the number seems to be in the hundreds, said Brian Hughes, Majority Office press secretary. Hughes said the voicemails appear to have been made at school with adults, possibly teachers, present. The calls were made during normal school hours, although Hughes didn’t know if the schools were on spring break.

“It just begs the question: Do parents know their children are becoming pawns in a lobbying effort by teachers unions?” Hughes said.

In one voice message to Atwater, made at 1:21 p.m. Friday in Miami, a child’s voice speaks passionately as an adult and others talk in the background.

“Hello, Mr. Atwater, please vote no for Bill 6,” the voice says. “Vote no for Bill 6. It’s not fair for us students. Us students want to have electives, and we want to have our teachers for next year. And also, we don’t want no charter schools.”

Atwater received several handwritten notes that appeared to have come from students. The volume and similarity imply they were written in schools, Hughes said.

A letter ending “Up Yours, Atwater” reads:

“I am a junior at Park Vista High School in Palm Beach County. I have always aspired to be a kindergarten teacher after getting my degree from one of Florida’s wonderful universities. I have three aunts and one cousin who are teachers and have been for years. I would like to say that I find ‘Senate Bill 6’ preprosterous (sic). Baseing (sic) teachers’ salaries on test scores is beyond ridiculous ”

Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, said the teachers union is not leading the campaign.