Schools Need To Get Rid Of Tenure

Tenure in school systems has been a highly controversial topic lately. Tenure refers to the job security of teachers after they have worked at a certain school for three years. When teachers earn tenure, it is very difficult to take away their jobs. This is especially true in higher education. According to the Washington Post, 32 states grant tenure after three years, nine states grant tenure after four or five years and four states never grant tenure at all. Granting tenure to all teachers gives everybody a job for life which should not be the case. Under-performing teachers should not have definite job security. America should remove academic tenure, replace it with a different system, and re-evaluate school teachers and professors.

There are many problems in the American public education system today. Some of those include the quality of teachers, who have no real passion for the job, and are only allowed to remain in the position because of tenure privileges. Another issue is the state budgets that are allowed for public schools, with some states investing billions of dollars, and others prioritizing it lower on the list. In hot debate today is standardized testing, and the negative effect that it has on high school education, with the limits it places on teachers and what they have time to teach in the classrooms.

The new changes No Child Left Behind laws were passed earlier in 2010 stresses the importance of education has to be our main concern to ensure that our children are getting quality education. The legislation is called “Performance Counts,” It reevaluates tenure laws and evaluation. This means that teachers are evaluated and being laid off because of their performance in the classrooms. No matter how long the teacher has been in his/her position that still wouldn’t keep them in their position because of their low performance. Over the next 10 years the focus will be to prepare hundreds of new teachers in STEM science, technology, engineering, and math (Mclatchy, 2010). The program is to encourage students in the STEM field or alternative teacher certification programs to switch their careers if they choose to. For

importance of their jobs, and the fact that the quality of teachers are reducing due to the salary.

Removing a teacher from his or her position is very difficult to do. “Tenure benefits the state by helping to create a permanent and qualified teaching force” (Underwood, Webb 36). This makes it difficult to let a teacher go even when it is to make the school a better environment for the students. Although teachers do have the right to freedom of speech and are able to exercise their First Amendment right, that freedom is in a way limited by the school board. Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) is a great example of this. A high school science teacher was terminated by the board of education because a letter he wrote was published in one of the community’s newspapers. The letter discussed the unequal funding between academics and athletics. After

If the problem is with teachers that do not value or wish the best for the students before them, then we need to stop that. If the problem is inequitable funding within and between school districts we need to correct that. If the problem is in the homes and hearts of the students themselves then we need to address that. Whatever it is, we cannot do nothing and scratch on heads as the current statistics continue to rise.

Too many teachers lack the ability to educate their students, and prepare them for the future, and too few of these ineffective teachers are losing their jobs. Firing an incompetent teacher requires getting the union, the school board, the principal, and the judicial system involved, followed by thousands of dollars in legal fees. It is seldom that a teacher is ever fired. One California school spent eight thousand dollars to fire one teacher protected by tenure (Stephey). The trouble that schools must go through to fire an inept teacher deters schools from firing the teacher. The teacher will keep his job, and continue to poorly educate students and prepare them for the future.

The low pay for our educators is causing many negative effects. New York Times shows that the low income is causing sixty-two percent of teachers to have a second job outside of their teaching jobs. Just to have enough money to support their families and make ends meet. Most everyone decides to college to prevent having these struggles with money, and to avoid having to work multiple jobs, when they get older; however, not when it comes to living off of only a teacher’s income, the struggles to have enough money are interminable. This low pay is also causing most teachers to retire, and find new jobs. New York Times states, “every year 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit. Nationwide, 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year. The turnover costs the

A former teacher, Lacey Bishop, who taught at Hillcrest Elementary School was not awarded tenure even though she had received good evaluations from her principal for two consecutive years. In addition, Mrs. Bishop was showered with compliments about her performance by her former principal Katrina Overton (Carroll, 2010). When Mrs. Bishop made it to her third year which made her eligible for tenure, the principal’s views about her performance had changed. In February 2010, when the principal was deciding to grant tenure, the principal complained about Mrs. Bishop’s classroom management, her lack of being prepared, and as a result; she was rated “Proficient” in nine areas, “Developing” in three, and “Unsatisfactory” in one on her Comprehensive

Experienced teachers are on average more effective in raising student achievement than less experienced counterparts. It is said that teachers do better as they gain experience. In If You Build It, Matt has very good knowledge in designing so he could work with the students hands-on. He also gained knowledge and experience while also teaching other students. Emily on the other hand was the organizer. She was hand-on with building and going around to the students making sure they were working efficiently. Both Matt and Emily gained experience through their many months of working with these high school students. In order for there to be good teachers the state needs to cooperate with the teachers. The salaries must be adequate and the teachers must have an expectation that as they gain experience their salaries will rise in line with what they would normally earn in comparable professions. Teachers would most likely leave if they feel they are in poor working conditions. A principal can improve these conditions and retain good teachers. In If You Build It, the superintendent of Bertie County High School was very creative and ready to work to improve the school with his bright ideas. Unfortunately, before the school year started he was fired because the county couldn’t afford him and his ideas. Politicians and states have this idea of teachers and principals and scapegoats

The ability of teachers to earn tenure has sparked debate for many years. Whether it is an individual who is for or against teacher tenure, both sides present valid points. First, teacher tenure was established to provide security for teachers and prevent them from being fired for political reasons, personal reasons, non-work related reasons, or to hire new teachers at a lower salary to replace veteran teachers. Challengers to the teacher tenure law argue that it makes teachers complacent, and inhibits schools abilities to get rid of bad teachers. Tenure does not actually make it impossible to fire a teacher who has earned tenure or what is called a non-probationary status. It does however create a costly and lengthy process for dismissing a tenured teacher if the school system cannot prove that the individual has engaged in certain acts.

It’s the lives of the children now that are being changed, not the ones who have already been through school with standard teachers. They are not getting the proper education they deserve because teachers are not putting in the effort it takes to teach them. They simply do what they absolutely have to to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Going above and beyond is obviously too much work… Even if it means many children grow up barely understanding anything they have learned because their teachers are not willing to work extra with them. Kids come to school to learn; not be ignored and brushed off by unfocused teachers. Usually a teacher has to work 1 or more years to receive tenure, depending on which state they live in, but why should they only try for the first few years of their jobs only to stop caring after they have gotten what they wanted? Tenure should not be given to anyone… Not when it can easily sacrifice a child’s education. Not to mention how unfair it is to teachers who are actually working hard and succeeding in their

Oklahoma as of today is ranked 49th nationally in per-pupil expenditures and ranked 48th in teacher pay (Klein 2). Putting Oklahoma as one of the worst states to be educated in the United States. “Oklahoma is consistently ranked near the bottom for education funding and teacher pay” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth And Job Creation” 3). When there are state cuts that need to be made, the departments of education are one of the first that usually tend to suffer. Since the 2008 economic crisis, Oklahoma has continued to cut the budget for education; even though the economy has since then gotten better (Perry). Budget cuts in education affect all parts of the education process for the students. “Some school districts have ordered teacher layoffs and shorter sessions” (“Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer” par 4).Schools are now struggling to keep their heads above water. Each year from the budget cutting, schools have had to lay off teachers, cut entire programs, and have limited resources used to educate the students. Even the teachers’ retirement system is suffering, being one of the top poorly funded pension programs nationally (Ash par 3). Seeing as that the schools have to cut down classes and programs, administration has had no other choice than to increase class size, overwhelming teachers tremendously. “Oklahoma has 1,500 fewer classroom teachers and 40,000 more students since 2008-2009” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth

The primary issue is that there is plenty of room to improve the student’s performance. The schools have low student performance, truancy, and crime issues. There is a high turnover due to all the issues that teachers see on a daily basis in their classrooms. Turnover is very high which could potentially cause issues with the students. If a student continually has to get a new teacher it will make it hard on the student. A student gets use to the rules and practices that one teacher has and then midstream has to get acquainted with another teacher’s rules and

First of all most should know that teacher tenure has a system of due process, checks, and balances so that teachers can be fired--just not to easily. Before argueing that teacher tenure should be abolished, one should listen to a few points.