Evaluations for tenured teachers in the state of Florida are changing.
A vote by the Florida Board of Governors Wednesday will now require tenured teachers at state-run colleges to undergo re-evaluations every five years.
Governors Nimna Gabadage and Deanna Michael opposed the change.
It's a move Andrew Gothard said will cost Florida educators.
"I hear every day from faculty who are fleeing the state as well as from individuals across the country who are letting us know that, 'we're not going to apply for jobs. We're not willing to send our graduate students here. We're hearing from graduate programs where there are students who are refusing to apply to Florida," Gothard said.
Gothard is the president of the teachers union, United Faculty of Florida.
Concern about the change started in November when the idea was introduced.
Now, he's fearful politics will play a role in a teacher's future employment.
"The problem with this new regulation is it puts almost entirely, the entirety of the power of the evaluation in the hands of a provost who is unaccountable to members of the faculty and unaccountable to members of the community," Gothard said.
The University of South Florida Senior Kayla Ware favors the evaluations but not necessarily the timeline.
"I think that if you are in the teaching industry, sometimes there's a lot of turnover with the teachers. Five years is a little too soon, but if you're a dedicated teacher, then I think ten years would be good for tenures," Ware said.
As it stands, Gothard said teachers are already heavily evaluated.
"Faculty are some of the most evaluated employees in the entirety of Florida. We are evaluated for every course that we teach by our students. We are evaluated annually by our department chairs and our deans," Gothard said.
ABC Action News requested an interview with a board of governors member. However, we were told no one was available.
