*****UPDATE: 6/27/2014
This story has been highly publicized in the national media, and for good reason. It is a landmark ruling, but one that will take many years to have any impact, IF IT EVER DOES. My money is on teacher tenure in California NEVER changing in a material way. California politicians and the California Teachers Unions are in bed together and that will never change. Why complete for your job, when you can have it guaranteed for life? Hard to argue with that logic FROM THE TEACHER'S PERSPECTIVE. How about from the student's perspective, when they are stuck with a bad teacher who has tenure?A few more points on this topic:
Education reformers are hoping that the Teacher's Union and the California Politicians get together, take matters into their own hands, and reform this terrible system. I hate to tell you, folks, but its just NOT gonna happen. Union teachers see this as "just another attack on teachers" and are hell-bent on preserving the status quo.
Heck, if I could preserve my job in the private sector by performing well for a mere 18 months, then receiving automatic pay increases forever, I might just think the same way. After 2 years of acceptable performance, I could never be fired for the rest of my career - say, another 30 or 40 years - that would we awesome! What a deal! I can see why they're hanging onto to tenure like a pit bull. The teacher's union see this as merely a slippery slope to privatizing public education - a smokescreen if I ever heard one.
How is it possible that lay-offs based on seniority is the system that ensures that the best teachers will keep their jobs? People perform better when pushed to do the best job possible. Otherwise, they risk getting laid off during bad economic times, when the best teachers should be kept on the job. Many complain that during layoffs, the "best and brightest" teachers often lose their jobs and never return to teaching - is that what we want? Well, that is what we've had for decades, and its NEVER going to change.
College professors receive tenure after a difficult, long and trying process; many never gain tenure. Professors have a legitimate claim that tenure is needed to preserve academic freedom, and protection from politically disputed opinions. K-12 teachers face a much shorter and easier tenure process, and should not, in general, be teaching disputed subjects. Thus, there is no "political" reason for K-12 tenure.
Teachers argue that without tenure, they are subject to the whims of the principal and other administrators of the school for their continued employment. In other words, they have to make their boss happy, whether they agree with them or not. To that I quote: "welcome to the real world, Neo". Sure, I'd be great to just do what I want at work and not worry about making my boss happy, or earning a bigger wage.
*****ORIGINAL ARTICLE 6/11/2014
INTRODUCTION: This is a sad story - not a happy story. As such, I will not commit a beautiful photo to this blog page, because it does not deserve it. To see why it is a sad story that will end badly, continue reading until the end.Over the years, I have observed that California Teacher Unions represent the interests of the teachers well, and the students - not so much. Teacher claims that their only interest is the "best interests of the students" appear to not be true. Most of the problem, IMHO, is the alignment of the interests of politicians and the teacher's unions, against the interest of the students. Enter Vergara v. State of California.
SOME FACTS IN THIS CASE: The Judge in this case noted facts that "shock the conscience":
FACT: How many public school teachers in the state of California (out of 280,000 equivalent full-time teachers) have been fired in the past 10 years? Answer: just 91! Of the 91 fired, only 19 were fired for poor performance as a teacher. The rest, assumedly, were fired for criminal activity or other non-teaching behavior.
FACT: How many years does it take to receive tenure as a California Public School Teacher? Answer: Less than 2 years (yes, its true). 98% of teachers in the LA Unified School District are granted the lifetime guarantee of employment after only 1 year and 7 months (by March 15 of their 2nd year of teaching). By then, many teachers have not yet received their teaching credential.
California is one of 5 outlier states where the teacher tenure probationary period is 2 years or less. 41 states have a probationary period of 3 years or more. Four states have no probationary period whatsoever, just like the private enterprise world (this would be my first choice). Union officials claim that 2 years is plenty of time to determine if a teacher is good enough to never be fired in the next 30 or 40 years of job performance. It is just not possible to make this type of projection on job performance. Our students deserve better than this: teachers should perform well EVERY YEAR that they teach, and should be fired if they don't. That's how it is for almost every single job in the private enterprise world.
California is one of 5 outlier states where the teacher tenure probationary period is 2 years or less. 41 states have a probationary period of 3 years or more. Four states have no probationary period whatsoever, just like the private enterprise world (this would be my first choice). Union officials claim that 2 years is plenty of time to determine if a teacher is good enough to never be fired in the next 30 or 40 years of job performance. It is just not possible to make this type of projection on job performance. Our students deserve better than this: teachers should perform well EVERY YEAR that they teach, and should be fired if they don't. That's how it is for almost every single job in the private enterprise world.
FACT: Unwieldy dismissal procedures make it nearly impossible to fire teachers no matter what heinous acts they have committed. Only .0002% of California teachers are dismissed for conduct or performance in any given year (yes, that's two ten thousands of one percent). For other California public employees, that number is 1% (5,000 times higher rate) and for private employers, that number is 8% (40,000 times higher). These numbers strongly indicate the reality that there is really no way to fire a bad teacher.
FACT: LA Unified spent $3,500,000 to fire just 7 teachers between 2000 and 2010 for poor performance. Of those 7, only 4 were permanently fired. Of the 3 retained, 2 received large settlement payments (assumedly for somehow being wronged during the course of this "due process"), and 1 continues to work after being "fired".
FACT: LA Unified has at least 350 grossly ineffective teachers that it has not even considered dismissing, due to the costly and time-consuming process which seldom results in an actual dismissal. Instead, these teachers continue to teach our children. This has got to end; sadly, this court ruling will not end this situation, IMHO (read on to find out why).
FACT: State law mandates that new teacher hires get laid off first. The Judge pointed out that this policy encourages the state to retain poor teachers, and deny students the right to have competent teachers. I agree.
FACT: These tenure policies disproportionately affect poor and minority students; i.e., the worst teachers end up in poor and minority school districts. For all those defending tenure, how can you claim to want quality education for poor and minority students?
FACT: Research has proved that teacher quality is the single biggest in-school determinant for student performance, and also, student income once they graduate. Good teachers results in good students getting good jobs after graduation. No surprise to me - it seems obvious. We all went to school - most of us, like me, to a public school. We all know the positive influence that great teachers had on us, and also, our lack of motivation when we have bad teachers.
FACT: In the state of California, the average annual teacher's salary is just under $70,000. The long-standing sentiment that teachers, in general, are underpaid is not true, IMHO. I believe that truly extraordinary teachers are indeed, underpaid. However, the average teacher is well-compensated for the 9 months a year that they work - again, IMHO. If there was a market wage for teachers and no teacher's union, I believe that the market would decide that teachers should get paid less than they do now. However, we will never know, because once public unions get installed as an institution, the are never dissolved. We will have teacher's unions forever, IMHO. Thus, the teacher's unions will continue to serve themselves well, and the students? not so well. Sigh.
THE GAME IS NOT OVER: Sadly, it does not end with this ruling. The teacher's unions are appealing, and the judge's orders will not be followed until this appeals process runs its course. The Judge is encouraging the California legislature to "fix" the unconstitutionality of the laws the Judge has ruled against. This will take many years. There is no urgency in this matter, as with most things government. So what if this "shocking" situation continues for years and years. Who cares? Not our state government and not our teacher's union - at least not enough to speed up the process to fix this problem and improve our public schools.
MY SAD PREDICTION - CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WILL LOSE AGAIN: This will work its way through the appeals process without end. Nothing will actually change, because of the strength of the very public alliance between California politicians and the teacher's unions. The politicians need the union's donations, and the teachers need the politicians to maintain their tenure policy. The politicans will not dare to offend their primary source of political donations and support. However unlikely, if the Calif. legislature ever does "fix" the problem, it will do so in a way that merely continues the current state of affairs, just with legal wording that implements the same basic policy. In other words, the students will lose again, and the low-performing teachers will keep on teaching.
SAN LUS COASTAL IS PRETTY DARN GOOD: Thanks for reading this. We were lucky enough to have good public school teachers for our children, because San Luis Obispo attracts quality teachers, due to the high quality lifestyle of the area. Thanks to the many wonderful teachers that our children had (note that they weren't all wonderful - some were mediocre or worse, and in a private school, they would have been FIRED and not laid off). This doesn't mean I don't care about the students throughout our great state that get stuck with uninspiring teachers with no motivation other than their paycheck. All our students deserve a quality public school education that we, as taxpayers, are paying for but not getting.
FACT: LA Unified spent $3,500,000 to fire just 7 teachers between 2000 and 2010 for poor performance. Of those 7, only 4 were permanently fired. Of the 3 retained, 2 received large settlement payments (assumedly for somehow being wronged during the course of this "due process"), and 1 continues to work after being "fired".
FACT: LA Unified has at least 350 grossly ineffective teachers that it has not even considered dismissing, due to the costly and time-consuming process which seldom results in an actual dismissal. Instead, these teachers continue to teach our children. This has got to end; sadly, this court ruling will not end this situation, IMHO (read on to find out why).
FACT: State law mandates that new teacher hires get laid off first. The Judge pointed out that this policy encourages the state to retain poor teachers, and deny students the right to have competent teachers. I agree.
FACT: These tenure policies disproportionately affect poor and minority students; i.e., the worst teachers end up in poor and minority school districts. For all those defending tenure, how can you claim to want quality education for poor and minority students?
FACT: Research has proved that teacher quality is the single biggest in-school determinant for student performance, and also, student income once they graduate. Good teachers results in good students getting good jobs after graduation. No surprise to me - it seems obvious. We all went to school - most of us, like me, to a public school. We all know the positive influence that great teachers had on us, and also, our lack of motivation when we have bad teachers.
FACT: In the state of California, the average annual teacher's salary is just under $70,000. The long-standing sentiment that teachers, in general, are underpaid is not true, IMHO. I believe that truly extraordinary teachers are indeed, underpaid. However, the average teacher is well-compensated for the 9 months a year that they work - again, IMHO. If there was a market wage for teachers and no teacher's union, I believe that the market would decide that teachers should get paid less than they do now. However, we will never know, because once public unions get installed as an institution, the are never dissolved. We will have teacher's unions forever, IMHO. Thus, the teacher's unions will continue to serve themselves well, and the students? not so well. Sigh.
THE GAME IS NOT OVER: Sadly, it does not end with this ruling. The teacher's unions are appealing, and the judge's orders will not be followed until this appeals process runs its course. The Judge is encouraging the California legislature to "fix" the unconstitutionality of the laws the Judge has ruled against. This will take many years. There is no urgency in this matter, as with most things government. So what if this "shocking" situation continues for years and years. Who cares? Not our state government and not our teacher's union - at least not enough to speed up the process to fix this problem and improve our public schools.
MY SAD PREDICTION - CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WILL LOSE AGAIN: This will work its way through the appeals process without end. Nothing will actually change, because of the strength of the very public alliance between California politicians and the teacher's unions. The politicians need the union's donations, and the teachers need the politicians to maintain their tenure policy. The politicans will not dare to offend their primary source of political donations and support. However unlikely, if the Calif. legislature ever does "fix" the problem, it will do so in a way that merely continues the current state of affairs, just with legal wording that implements the same basic policy. In other words, the students will lose again, and the low-performing teachers will keep on teaching.
SAN LUS COASTAL IS PRETTY DARN GOOD: Thanks for reading this. We were lucky enough to have good public school teachers for our children, because San Luis Obispo attracts quality teachers, due to the high quality lifestyle of the area. Thanks to the many wonderful teachers that our children had (note that they weren't all wonderful - some were mediocre or worse, and in a private school, they would have been FIRED and not laid off). This doesn't mean I don't care about the students throughout our great state that get stuck with uninspiring teachers with no motivation other than their paycheck. All our students deserve a quality public school education that we, as taxpayers, are paying for but not getting.
