State Senate OKs bill tying teacher evaluations to layoffs

“State Senate OKs bill tying teacher evaluations to layoffs” by Molly Rosbach, The Associated Press The Seattle Times Published 4/12/11 Retrieved 4/16/11 Complete URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2014756842_education13.html Intended Audience: teachers, administrators, lawmakers Summary: The state Senate has given the go-ahead for a bill that proposes to put teachers who score the lowest on their performance evaluations at the front of the line for any impending layoffs. The bill was modified to include school principals in the layoffs as well. Opponents to the bill argue that instead of changing how teachers are laid off, they should be trying to avoid teacher layoffs altogether and focus on managing the teacher’s demands by decreasing class size, increasing planning time, and offering more student support services. Key Point: The Senate has approved a bill to order teacher layoffs by performance instead of seniority. Relevance: This is one of the first big steps in the shift to what will hopefully eventually become performance-based salaries and job security. I thought it extremely interesting that the opponents to this bill were never once reported to argue directly against preference by seniority. The old way of the exclusive, gentlemen’s-club, good-ol’-boys idea of job security is coming to an end.