6 Fla. districts to develop merit pay programs

MIAMI (AP) -- Six Florida school districts have been awarded funds by the U.S. Department of Education to create merit pay programs for teachers and principals.

The districts include: Duval, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas and Putnam counties.

The Teacher Incentive Fund will award $442 million nationwide to attract, retain and reward educators serving in the country's highest need schools.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools will be awarded $10 million over five years to develop and implement a pilot performance based compensation system in eight elementary schools.

State education organizations and nonprofit groups from 26 other states were also awarded funds.

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