Governor seeks to ease rules on firing weak teachers - latimes.com

Governor seeks to ease rules on firing weak teachers - latimes.com

Governor seeks to ease rules on firing weak teachers

Schwarzenegger calls for other criteria besides seniority in dismissals and advocates reducing power of state panel that can overturn decisions.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed on Friday to make it easier for school districts to fire weak teachers by changing a law that mandates instructors be laid off only according to seniority. He also recommended reducing the role of a state commission that has the power to overturn teachers' dismissals.

The move to take away final say over teachers' dismissals from the Commission on Professional Competence was spurred by a Times investigation last spring, according to the governor's staff. The investigation found that the commission overturned nearly a third of teachers' dismissals statewide over the last 15 years.

The Times also found that the process of firing a tenured teacher is so difficult that districts typically try to remove only instructors accused of egregious acts and that poor teaching is rarely a factor in dismissals.