Has teacher tenure run its course?

 BY ED COLLINS

Has teacher tenure run its course? A California Superior Court judge thinks so by recently issuing  a ruling that tenure and other teacher job protection programs are unconstitutional in California.

Several Los Angeles students and some backers convinced Judge Rolf Treu that the current system discriminates against the quality of education for low-income and minority students.

Judge True said in K-12 classrooms statewide there is “no dispute that there are a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms.”

He agreed with the students claim that California tenure laws have a tendency to result in ineffective teachers obtaining and retaining permanent employment.

The judge pointed out that it only takes two years to qualify for permanent tenure in California public schools. He said such brief timing is too short to determine a teacher’s fitness for permanent hire.

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy testified it can often take two years to fire an incompetent tenured teacher, and sometimes as long as ten years with legal and personnel costs for the District's taxpayers ranging from $250,000 to $450,000.

Tenure in Illinois usually takes four years of consecutive service, but reform legislation back in 2011 transformed the teacher tenure system based upon job performance.

Built into the legislation are tenure performance incentives that can shave as much as two years off the tenure process for outstanding probationary service. 

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the system needs to be more open and accountable. He said there are millions of young people in this country “who are disadvantaged by laws, practices, and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students.” He said the judge’s ruling is a mandate that we must fix these problems.

As anticipated, teachers unions such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) are outraged.

Randi Weingarten, who heads up the AFT said the ruling ignores a big problem in school quality: “full and fair funding.” 

Dennis Van Roekel, president of NEA, said the ruling “was deeply flawed” and his organization will join California teachers in appealing the ruling.

“The Judge ignores research that shows experience is a key factor in effective teaching,” Van Roekel indicated. However, reformers say the system needs to focus on both experience and achievement.