The executive director of the Association of Bay County Educators (ABCE) voiced her concerns over the bill during Wednesday's Bay District school board meeting.

Senate Bill 6 is a comprehensive overhaul that nixes teacher tenure in favor of a performance-based salary schedule. Rather than solely basing pay on experience, more than half of a teacher's salary would be tied to student learning gains.

The bill would also make it easier to fire bad teachers.

Legislators say it's all necessary if the state wants to receive about $700 million from the federal "Race to the Top" program.

But, local ABCE officials say teachers are firmly against the idea.

ABCE executive director Yvette Griffin told board members, "Not only will the success of this bill result in unreasonable restrictions on teachers and negative impact on creativity in teaching, it can also undermine the authority of this board to make the decisions that deal with education in this community."

The bill also provides for additional year-end exams for students not covered by the FCAT. But, the FCAT for grades 3 through 8 will largely remain intact.