[Times photos: Stefanie Boyar]
St. Augustine teacher Mary McMahon Linn points as Jane Faysash, a Boca Raton teacher, paddles down the Hillsborough River on a canoe trip that is part of a seminar and program aimed at "rewarding and renewing Florida's finest teachers."

By STEPHEN HEGARTY

A program to encourage and refresh Florida's top teachers is in jeopardy after Gov. Jeb Bush's veto.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Twenty-five teachers in shorts, running shoes and sandals are seated in a wide rectangle discussing Florida history, poetry, urban sprawland the roller coaster ride that is teaching.

Fran Cary quietly enters the room and listens in. A pause allows her to ask a question that has cast a shadow over the teachers for the week:

How would you describe this program to a skeptical Florida lawmaker?

It's not entirely hypothetical; Gov. Jeb Bush recently vetoed the $275,000 allocation for the Florida Center for Teachers, casting doubt on the future of seminars like this.

"Some of them think this is a program for canoe trips and shopping in Ybor City," says Cary, the executive director for the Florida Humanities Council, of which the Florida Center for Teachers is a part.

Cary's question elicits testimonials from the teachers. After a week of studying Florida literature, networking and exploring local communities and, yes, a canoe trip, the teachers are tired but more than happy to defend the program.

The teachers talk about finally being treated like professionals, about renewing their enthusiasm for teaching.

"I made concrete plans to get out of the teaching profession," said Wilma Horton, a middle school reading teacher from Miramar. "But now I'm going to stick with it a little longer."

The program clearly has the support of educators -- and many lawmakers, despite some iffy moments during the last legislative session. Rep. Frank Farkas of St. Petersburg stopped by last week to show his support. Rep. Jerry Maygarden of Pensacola has donated money to the center.

Still, in light of the governor's veto and the difficulties of getting the allocation in the budget in the first place, the question remains: At a time when test scores are the bottom line, is there a place in the state budget for a program that describes its mission as "rewarding and renewing Florida's finest teachers?"

* * *

Mike Mullins shows an alligator at the Nature Center in Tampa to teachers in a Florida Center for Teachers seminar titled "Searching for a Sense of Place."

Canoes of dull red and green glide slowly past knobby cypress knees in the Hillsborough River. Occasionally teachers in one canoe drag their oars and slow to a stop, so they can point to an alligator lurking in the reeds.

Last week's seminar, "Searching for a Sense of Place," took the teachers to some secluded bends in the Hillsborough River to see what the state looked like 100 years ago. It took them on a tour of St. Petersburg, Ybor City (no shopping) and Gulfport, where they interviewed some locals. It took them to Fort De Soto for some Florida folk music.

If themes were clothing, "A Sense of Place" would be a loose-fitting garment. It enables seminar leader Gary Mormino, University of South Florida professor of history, to fit in Florida history, politics, poetry, and laugh-out-loud stories on some of the state's oddball characters.The teachers clearly are having fun. They also can't help thinking how all this relates to their classroom.

After last week, Wilma Horton decided what she would have her students read about during the upcoming first semester: the Everglades.

Gina Dolan was nervous about moving from third to fourth grade at Pleasant Grove Elementary in Inverness. In fourth grade you have to cover Florida history, and though she had a monstrous new 600-page textbook, she had little sense of the history. That changed this past week.

"I'm going to tell the kids, 'If I can step into that boat and go down the river, you can do your homework,' " said Linda Escuder, a teacher from the Safety Harbor Secondary School.

Many of the teachers who were there heard about the program from a fellow teacher who attended a session. Some were tapped by their principals. Nine of the 25 were invited specifically because they recently got their National Board Certification, which marks them as ambitious and accomplished educators.

"We ask principals to encourage their best teachers to come as a reward," said Susan Lockwood, director of the center.

Though the teachers are kept to a tight and exhausting schedule, there is a sense that they are being pampered. Each day their blue coffee mugs were filled with candy. Their lodging and meal expenses are covered. They stay at the Hilton in downtown St. Petersburg, just a short walk from the Florida Center for Teachers' impressive new buildingon the USF St. Petersburg campus.

The center has been conducting these seminars since 1993, back when it was operating out of Eckerd College, the University of Tampa and Ybor City.

The reliance on state money is hardly new; since 1999, the Florida Humanities Council has received $275,000 in state money for the Center for Teachers. (The allocation was smaller before that.) The Florida Humanities Council combines state money, federal money (through the National Endowment for the Humanities) and private donations for its $1.6-million budget.

* * *

Tish Kilpatrick, a Gainesville elementary school art teacher, paddles down the Hillsborough River on a canoe trip Thursday during a Florida Center for Teachers seminar that took faculty members to secluded bends in the river to see what the state looked like 100 years ago.

Months ago when it was clear the governor was ready to eliminate the Florida Center for Teachers from the budget, Bush's spokeswoman pointed to the $36-million the state already devotes to professional development.

The governor's budget recommendation says teacher training should focus on teaching methods, classroom management, school safety and assessment.

In that light, perhaps it's no surprise the Florida Center for Teachers got its funds cut.

"A lot of programs are well intended, but the question is: 'Is this likely to drive substantial improvements in the academic achievement of our kids?' " said Dominic Calabro, president of the watchdog group Florida TaxWatch.

The center doesn't make those sorts of claims.

"We don't offer the usual professional development: pedagogy, classroom management," said Fran Cary. "A lot of that is covered elsewhere. But what we do, the school districts don't have the resources to do."

Since the governor's veto, Cary has worked on increasing the private donations to the center. There is talk of reducing the number of seminars. There were 10 offered this summer, with themes devoted to Asian religions in Florida, Florida writers, Latino influence in the state, and one called Plagues in Medicine and Myth.

Cary still is optimistic that legislative support might translate into an allocation next year. She continues to do what she has done all along: make phone calls, schedule visits, tell people about the center.

In February, Education Commissioner Charlie Crist attended the dedication ceremony for the new home of the Florida Center for Teachers. Crist pledged to fight to keep the center's funding.

In an interview last week, Crist lamented the center's financial loss but raised a bit of hope.

"I'm still convinced that they do good work," said Crist, who is from St. Petersburg. "I will say that the commissioner has some discretionary funding opportunities."

Does that mean Crist will find money in his budget to fund the center?

"It is a possibility," Crist said.

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Lucy Morgan

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