Patch Blog: We Need Sensible Tenure Reform

As the son of two public school teachers and a member of four labor unions, I am sympathetic to teachers who have fought for job security. However, the current seniority system as enshrined into state law not only hurts districts and students seeking the best educational system, but it hurts teachers as well.

California Senate Bill 955 would have made some great changes, and it was backed by an independent group that included teachers. Beyond that group, lest anyone imagine this bill was merely a union-busting move by the right wing, SB 955 was supported by an incredibly wide-ranging group of constituents, including Teach For America, the NAACP, the Latino Coalition, the Congress of Racial Equality of California, The Education Trust West and many other non-profit organizations that have traditionally leaned to the left.

This is my understanding of that bill.

First, it would have given districts flexibility in terms of the timing of layoff notices. Currently, districts have to issue pink slips by March 15th, even though no district in California has an accurate sense of what their funding for the next year will be at that point. What this means is that each year, districts and teachers are unnecessarily put through a strange dance in which "sort of " pink slips are issued, creating unneeded stress. This system makes no sense, and SB 955 would have eliminated it in favor of a May 15th date, by which time districts tend to know what their funding will be.

Second, 955 would have allowed districts more flexibility to lay off teachers by need. Right now, layoffs are strictly by seniority. Even if the district has a great need for science teachers, if the majority of new teachers are science teachers, there's nothing a district can do... they must lay off the newest teachers in a blind fashion. That's absurd.

Third, 955 would have allowed districts to consider performance evaluations when laying off teachers. This is precisely what we need. Our best and brightest teachers are often the first on the chopping block, while teachers who are underperforming must be retained. Not only does this hurt our kids, it hurts teachers as well!

Sadly, La Cañada's own Carol Liu chose to abstain when the bill was up for a vote in her committee. By abstaining, she effectively killed it. It never even got to a Senate vote. Unsurprisingly, unions comprise the majority of campaign contributions to State Senator Liu. Consider this: from 2007 to 2010, a full 80% of the campaign contributions she received were from outside of her district.

It's unlikely that the tenure system will ever be eliminated in California. Personally, I believe in the value of incremental change. The increments proposed in SB 955 were a reasonable step in the right direction, and State Senator Liu should be ashamed to have stood in the way of that sensible legislation.

Hopefully, it will be revived and given a fair chance at a vote. Barring that, a state referendum is another course of action to consider.