Florida's teacher union says a new bonus program discriminates against older teachers and minority teachers.
The Florida Legislature this year set aside $44 million for the ``Best and Brightest Program.'' The program gives bonuses to teachers who received good evaluations and who also earned top scores on the standardized tests used to get into college.
The Florida Education Association has filed a discrimination complaint with federal and state authorities about the program.
The FEA says the program is unfair to teachers who are 40 years or older because it was hard for some of them to get access to their SAT and ACT scores by the application deadline. The complaint also contends that the program discriminates against black and Hispanic teachers.
Meghan Collins, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said the agency has not yet received a copy of the complaint.
