To the Editor:

Both Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 7189 in the Florida Legislature are extremely detrimental to education in Florida and to all of the state’s economy.

Future teachers, educated here, will go elsewhere to work. Not good for Florida schools which are already struggling at the bottom of a list of 50 states.

Teachers currently in the school systems will lose tenure, the ability to have collective bargaining, retirement rights to subsidies for health care.

Their ability to teach in a problem school will impair the teachers’ ability to get the same raises that a teacher in a non-problem school will get.

The constitution of Florida clearly states the education of children is the responsibility of the State of Florida. Plug up the exemptions of the sales tax would be a positive cash flow in this mess.

Taking away the health insurance subsidies will reduce income of all state retirees, therefore reduced buying power will hurt all the business communities statewide.

This is a very bad bill, passed in the middle of the night during a weekend news cycle to reduce media coverage of its extensive ills for all Floridians.

I urge everyone to respectfully request that Gov. Charlie Crist veto this bill.

I hope this legislation will lead to an anti incumbent election this year.

Joan Patterson

Lehigh Acres