AG Pam Bondi Announces Serious Charges Against Maryland Man Deported to El Salvador
Elon Musk Is Now Worse Than Climate Change, but Good News — CNN...
The Men of D-Day Are Watching Elon and Donald
Infighting is Not Good, But Not Unexpected, Either
SNAP Back: Reforming American Health Will Restore Our Economy
Make Pride Sane Again
Ready Or Not, Humanoid Robots Are Here To Stay
Karine Jean-Pierre Book Launch Shows Why Democrats Are Losing Men
America’s Air Traffic Control System Is Stuck in the 1980s
Trump Admin Shuts Down Controversial TSA 'Quiet Skies' Program Used to Surveil Law-Abiding...
Gov. Hobbs Vetoes Bill Blocking CCP From Buying Land Near U.S. Bases, Sparks...
Blackburn Introduces New Bill to Criminalize Doxxing of Federal Law Enforcement
Paris Rioters Get Slap on the Wrist
Iran Orders Thousands of Tons of Ballistic Missile Materials From China Amid Tense...
USA Today Updated Their Article on Suspected Terrorist's Daughter. It's Not Better.
Tipsheet

California Judge Strikes Down Teacher Tenure

On Tuesday, teacher tenure was ruled unconstitutional in the state of California, impacting 6 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade. This monumental decision could change the way other states view current tenure laws nationwide.

Advertisement

Tenure aims to protect long-standing teachers from being fired by providing them with job security after they have completed a certain probationary period. Opponents argue, however, that these laws keep inept teachers in the classroom and therefore hinder student achievement. In California, the qualification for achieving tenure is only two years, one of the shortest in the nation:

Nine California students brought the case to court after describing situations where teachers improvised lesson plans, were unable to control the classroom, and even told students they would never make anything of themselves. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu asserted that the state’s current laws have led to “a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms.”

The state’s largest teachers union, the California Teachers Association, already plans to appeal the ruling. The union said, “Circumventing the legislative process to strip teachers of their professional rights hurts our students and our schools.”

What truly hurts our students is allowing unqualified, apathetic teachers to keep their jobs under the justification that they have already been working for two years. This does not promote children's fundamental right to an equal education. Impoverished and minority students are hit the hardest since there’s a disproportionate amount of inefficient teachers working in low-income schools.

Advertisement

These incompetent teachers are near impossible to fire under tenure laws, due to the long and costly process involving trials and appeals. The Associated Press reports:

If a school district moves to fire a tenured teacher and the educator puts up a fight, it triggers a long, drawn-out process, including a trial-like hearing and appeals.

Los Angeles School Superintendent John Deasy testified it can take over two years on average — and sometimes as long as 10 — to fire an incompetent tenured teacher. The cost, he said, can run from $250,000 to $450,000.

Tenure gives a “last in, first out” approach to handling layoffs, requiring that the last hired teacher be the first fired teacher. Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools and founder of the education reform organization StudentsFirst, gives her take:

Parents should not have to worry about the quality of the teachers instructing their children. The solution to keeping capable teachers in positions of influence is not through tenure, but rewarding them based on performance.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement