In Teacher Layoffs, Seniority Rules. But Should It?
EnlargeMark Duncan/AP
Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders, pictured here in 2007, is facing a $54 million spending gap and says he may have to shed more than 500 teachers. But he says he's bound by a state law to keep the more senior teachers "without regard to productivity, efficiency, accountability, performance or outcomes."
School districts around the country are planning massive layoffs as they struggle to bridge big budget deficits.
And as they select which teachers go and which ones stay, many can only use one factor as their guide: seniority. Many districts will have to cast out effective teachers, because local contracts and even state laws require it.
Like many of his counterparts around the country, Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders is facing a monster $54 million spending gap.
According to Sanders, there's no room left to trim, and he may have to shed more than 500 teachers. He says that when he sent out pink slips earlier this year, he had no flexibility.
"The last hired are the first ones to go without regard to productivity, efficiency, accountability, performance or outcomes," Sanders says.
'You Just Don't Do That To People'
That means some schools face a complete staff turnover.
MC2 STEM High School, with its freshman campus located on the lakeshore at the Great Lakes Science Center, is only two years old. It has attracted lots of teachers new to the Cleveland school district.
"This is my first year in the district, and because of layoffs my last," says Christa Krohn, one of
