Political Landscape:
Performance over seniority
A set of education reform proposals from local lawmakers passed out of a key state Senate committee last week, including one from Sen. Bub Huff (R-Diamond Bar) that would allow school districts to lay off teachers based on performance, rather than seniority.
Other legislation, sponsored by Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge), would limit the amount that college student fees could grow each year and change community college funding formulas to account for the amount of students enrolled in courses at the end of terms.
The bills, which were approved by the Senate Subcommittee on Education, have received mixed responses from the California Teachers Assn. The group has opposed or taken no stance on them.
Liu is still in discussions with the University of California and California State University systems about state controls on fee increases, she said.
“The original intent is to make sure that our young people have some kind of predictability about fee increases,” Liu said.
Huff’s proposal, which he says would eliminate unnecessary layoff-related procedures and ensure that the best-performing teachers are retained during budget crunches, received aggressive opposition from the teachers union.
On its website, the union derided the proposal as one that “ignores the importance of teachers’ experience in the classroom when making layoff and rehiring decisions.”
Under current law, teachers must be laid off in the reverse order that they were employed, meaning that the most senior teachers are often saved from layoffs, while newer teachers are often cut from payrolls when school officials turn to job cuts to balance their budgets.
But experience sometimes does not translate into strong classroom performance, so some more tenured teachers who may be less effective are often immune during such layoffs while their less experienced peers are let go, Huff said.
“This bill will allow local school districts to use merit or ability as opposed to just seniority in making those decisions,” he said.
The bill will also protect lower-performing schools, which are often more affected by layoffs
Other legislation, sponsored by Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge), would limit the amount that college student fees could grow each year and change community college funding formulas to account for the amount of students enrolled in courses at the end of terms.
The bills, which were approved by the Senate Subcommittee on Education, have received mixed responses from the California Teachers Assn. The group has opposed or taken no stance on them.
Liu is still in discussions with the University of California and California State University systems about state controls on fee increases, she said.
“The original intent is to make sure that our young people have some kind of predictability about fee increases,” Liu said.
Huff’s proposal, which he says would eliminate unnecessary layoff-related procedures and ensure that the best-performing teachers are retained during budget crunches, received aggressive opposition from the teachers union.
On its website, the union derided the proposal as one that “ignores the importance of teachers’ experience in the classroom when making layoff and rehiring decisions.”
Under current law, teachers must be laid off in the reverse order that they were employed, meaning that the most senior teachers are often saved from layoffs, while newer teachers are often cut from payrolls when school officials turn to job cuts to balance their budgets.
But experience sometimes does not translate into strong classroom performance, so some more tenured teachers who may be less effective are often immune during such layoffs while their less experienced peers are let go, Huff said.
“This bill will allow local school districts to use merit or ability as opposed to just seniority in making those decisions,” he said.
The bill will also protect lower-performing schools, which are often more affected by layoffs