It doesn't look like pre-kindergarten teachers will have to sit in the pupil's seat any time soon.
An amendment to require pre-kindergarten teachers to have four-year degrees died Wednesday in the House's Schools and Learning Council.
The amendment was to give definition to the word, "high-quality," which the 2002 constitutional amendment told Florida voters would happen in four years.
The amendment required pre-K teachers to have an associate's degree by 2010 and a bachelor's degree by 2012.
Proponents and opponents showed research to back their claim on how children would benefit, or not, from having a teacher with a bachelor's degree.
"Without making it a requirement, we are not moving toward quality," said state Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, who sponsored the amendment to proposed council bill (PCB) 0709. "We know children do better with degreed teachers."
But Ellen McKinley, president of the Child Development Education Alliance, doesn't see more education as always a benefit to pre-K students, especially when it requires earning credits in classes that don't deal with education.
"This is unrealistic, it is impossible for people already working in the field," said McKinley, who provided research that that there is no link between a pre-K teacher's education and students academic gain.
But the legislation's failure did not come without big backing. Last week six former governors of Florida and the widow of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, wrote an op-ed piece in the Tallahassee Democrat , supporting required degrees for pre-K teachers.
Even Gov. Charlie Crist buttressed the idea.
"It makes sense to me," Crist said. "I wouldn't want to argue on the other side of that, against certified teachers."