Post on 27-Dec-2015
• According to David Stader in Law and Ethics of Educational Leadership: – tenure can be defined as a continuing contract that “…bestows a property
right to employment in the district until the employee retires, resigns, dies, is terminated, or agrees to a change in contract status”
• When do teachers get tenure? (“Probationary Periods”)– 1 year – Hawaii and Florida
– 2 years – California, Mississippi, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington
– 3 years – 27 states
– 4 years – Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina
– 5 years – Missouri, New Hampshire, Tennessee
• Basically, tenure protects teachers. (RIF, LIFO)
What is teacher tenure?
Timeline• 1883: Pendleton Act of 1883
passed
• 1886: NEA formed the Committee on Salaries, Tenure, and Pensions
• 1909: New Jersey becomes the first state for teacher tenure***
• 1917: Otis Bill in IL passed
• 1941: The Act to Establish and Maintain a System of Free Schools passed.***
• Mid 1940’s – 70% of teachers are protected by tenure
• Mid 1950’s – 80% of teachers protected
• 2002 – Famous GA incident, Roy Barnes***
• 2011 – 18 states made revisions to tenure policies
• 2013 – Every state requires some sort of “tenure” except South Dakota.
• June 2014 – Vergara v. California
Roy Barnes, former Georgia Governor (and former UGA debater)What does he have to do with the teacher tenure topic?
Arguments for Tenure1909 New Jersey Law
• Attract more qualified and effective teachers
• Increase the efficient operation of school districts
• Make teaching more attractive by providing teachers with increased political and economic security
• Eliminate political favoritism in hiring and dismissal
1941 Illinois Law
• Eliminate arbitrary dismissals and annual employee at-will contracts
• Protect the property and liberty rights of teachers
• Improve instruction
• Increase the efficiency of the system
Arguments against Tenure1909 New Jersey Law
• The main con argument was primarily concerned that tenure would limit the dismissal of poor performing educators
1941 Illinois Law
• Opponents worried that such a law would lead to life-time employment and severely limit the dismissal of poor performing teachers
• Lawsuit funded by Students Matter (pro-charter, privatization, anti-union group)
• Lawsuit that tenure laws violate the California Constitution by denying children in public schools their constitutionally given right to a quality public education.
• Decision: Strike down 5 statutes including tenure, layoffs, and dismissal.
Facts About the Case
• Compelled by evidence from Chetty: “a ineffective teacher costs students 1.4 million in lifetime earnings per classroom.”
• Kane: Students who are taught by a teacher in the bottom 5% lose 9.54 months of learning.
• Berliner: 275,000 ineffective teachers in California (3%)
• Plantiffs proved that students have a right to equality of education and tenure causes inequality.
Judge Treu Decision
Permanent Employment Statute• Decisions must be made by
March 15 (3 months prior to end of year) – shortens the period to 18 months.
• Agrees 3-5 years would be better.
Dismissal Status• Costs $450,000 to fire a
teacher. Dismissals are “very rare”
• Due to time and costs, dismissals are ineffective and considered “illusory”
• Challenge is already planned – former lawyer for President Bush is leading it.
• Target is on LIFO policy – the group Partnership for Educational Justice is funding the challenge.
• Six other states will be challenged soon - New York, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho, Kansas and Connecticut.
New York is next.
Resolved: Eliminating teacher tenure is in the best interest of education in United States primary and secondary schools.
• What is Teacher Tenure?– Columbia Encyclopedia 14: “Tenure, in education, a guarantee of the
permanence of a … teacher's position, awarded upon successful completion of a probationary period… Tenure is designed to make a teaching career more attractive by providing job security; by protecting the teacher's position, tenure also tends to enforce academic freedom. … A tenured teacher may be dismissed for adequate cause, provided that the cause is established in proceedings with all the precautions of due process”
• What does it mean to eliminate?– Completely remove
– Reform
Definitions for the round
Best Interests of EducationFor Teachers?
• Subject-predicate agreement… teacher tenure was created for teachers, not students.
• Good teachers are prerequisites to learning
For Students?
• Persuasive especially to lay judges
• The job of our schools is to teach first, employ second.
Burdens • Pro teams probably can
argue that they have the burden:– Prove elimination good
• Con teams can:– Prove elimination bad
– Prove tenure is not good or bad (tie goes neg)
• Student Achievement Based Contentions– Low income schools are hurt by tenure
– Unions goals contradict student goals
• School Level Based Contentions– Firing tenured teachers is expensive
• Tenure Reform Contentions– Performance Based Tenure
Pro Arguments on the topic
• Teacher Based Contentions– Tenure = Job Protection (Attrition, quality, etc)
– Due Process Good (Protection vs. cray cray folk)
• Tenure Reform Contentions– Performance Based Tenure
Con Arguments on the Topic
• Purpose: Practice using Verbatim 5 to cut cards
• Find three cards per person in your group on your assigned topic.
• Why is this a group effort?– Communicate about search terms
– Double check that you don’t cut the same cards
• When you’re done use the email feature in Verbatim 5 to email me your cards.
JMILL126@GMAIL.COM
Research Groups After Dinner