When a government tries to run the schools like a private business, we have a problem. The students are not "products" in the traditional sense of the word. When you have a faulty part on the assembly line, you just dispose of it. These are children; that is NOT an option. They come from diverse backgrounds and situations, and a one-size-fits-all approach (i.e. FCAT and like testing) does not take all the variables that affect testing outcomes into account. To base virtually everything on an annual test score is narrow minded, to say the least. When I have students whose grades are suffering because of family issues at home, and when I have other students who are sick or are having other problems that affect their school performance (things beyond a teacher's control), how can we say that those test scores are reliable? Some teachers are "rewarded" for excellence by being given the lowest performing students, while other teachers are "punished" for poor performance by being given higher performing students (to avoid the behavior issues). How is this fair? And, we're comparing test scores from year to year with DIFFERENCT students' scores! The solution, you ask? Why don't the state legislatures and those who wish to base teachers' pay on flawed one-size-fits-all test scores come and spend a week in the classroom with our students? I don't mean in the stellar, IB and arts magnet schools, either. Go to the regular high schools in ALL types of neighborhoods and districts and see what we teachers face on a daily basis. Our teaching time is decreasing as the testing mentality increases. Our class time is continually compromised by numerous interruptions, meetings, diagnostic testing, practice testing, meetings, and more. Plus, we have to deal with children’s and teenagers' dilemmas, emotional outbursts, bullying, and more on a daily basis. To say that a teacher is solely responsible for all of a child's education is off target. When you fail to take into consideration all of the outside influences on that student, you're missing the big picture. Yes, there are ineffective teachers in the classroom, and that is a shame. Do we need to find a way to weed out those people? Yes. But, to punish everyone for those few? That's overkill. You cannot blame the ills of the education society solely on the teachers. That's like saying that we teachers are also responsible for rearing each child that we teach. It's impossible. Where do the children’s own parents fit into the equation? I cannot tell you how many students I've taught who are not living at home due to "bad parenting." Oh, and add in the fact that the state is required to adhere to the class size reduction limits - and they're NOT going to fund the schools to do this. But, the state is going to expect the districts to pay penalties if we go over those limits. What do we say to that 26th student who moves to our school district and we cannot accommodate him in the classroom because we have hit our quota? Plus, the state is trying to give the districts even less money to operate when we need more teachers to cover this class size amendment. Trying to ram this bill down our throats, and doing it behind closed doors, is insulting. Why can't you hold forums and discussions with educators and other stake-holders to come up with more viable solutions? Shouldn't there be some type of process to arrive at reasonable solutions and alternatives than to have just a few elected officials decide the fate of thousands of educators? Until these elected officials walk a mile in our shoes, how could they possibly know and understand all the variables involved in our job?