This article is part of a PRO/CON opinion piece on Senate Bill 955. To view the opposing side, see here.
By Michael Powell
Staff Writer
California Senate Bill 955 provides school districts with the ability to layoff teachers based upon skill instead of seniority. While this may seem like an effective way to layoff teachers, in reality it will not improve California’s education system.
The bill has three major components. It eliminates the deadline that school districts have to notify teachers of possible dismissal, shortens the legal process for dismissing teachers and does away with the seniority system for firing teachers.
The purpose of the bill is to allow school districts to retain the best teachers possible in bad fiscal situations, but some of its provisions will deter great teachers from staying with their districts.
Eliminating the deadline districts have to “pink slip” teachers will distract some teachers from their classrooms as any teacher could be let go at any moment.
By eliminating the seniority restrictions for laying off teachers, the state would give districts the leeway to let go of teachers for reasons other than aptitude and potential.
Seniority shields the higher-paid and more-tenured teachers from layoffs and prevents districts from dismissing more experienced and expensive teachers purely on the basis of expense in favor of more untested and less-costly teachers. Without it, districts have the ability to let exceptional teachers go only because they are considered too expensive.
In no way could students benefit from losing a school’s most experienced and knowledgeable teachers simply because they make the most money.
While seniority may allow some inadequate teachers to remain in their jobs, it also provides teachers protection from political terminations.
The elimination of any system protecting teachers from unjust layoffs opens the door to a system in which teachers are fired for being critical of the administration or being unpopular with parents and students. Popularity and like-ability don’t necessarily correlate to teaching.
Shortening the dismissal process for letting go of teachers compounds this problem by removing checks in the judicial system that help weed out unjust terminations. Not only would teachers be at risk for more arbitrary layoffs, they would have less opportunity to protest them.
In conclusion, SB 955 would harm the most influential part of a student’s education: the teachers. Although the current system isn’t perfect, it protects necessary teacher rights that are outright neglected by the proposals in SB 955.
Opinion Editor Kyle Allen contributed to this article.
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