Steinberg bill on teacher layoffs in jeopardy
Posted in Achievement Gap, Equity issues, TenureA bill that would end the disparity in teacher layoffs in low-income, low-performing schools and resolve a lawsuit against the state and Los Angeles Unified is stuck in an Assembly committee with two days left to act on legislation.
SB 1285 is a priority of Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, its sponsor. The stalemate puts him at odds with Assembly Speaker John Perez, who controls which bills exit the Rules Committee. The outcome will be a gauge of Perez’s loyalty to the California Teachers Association, which opposes the bill as an infringement of seniority-based layoffs.
Teachers to survey students – if they choose
Posted in Teacher DevelopmentWith the governor’s signature of SB 1422, students have won the right to express views of their teachers. It will take another bill, however, to win the right to actually be listened to.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles, is a victory of sorts for the California Assn. of Student Councils and a civics lesson in sausage making.
The bill allows high school student governments to work with teachers on creating a student opinion survey on various aspects of the classes they take and their teachers’ effectiveness. The surveys will be distributed to teachers annually.
Here’s where the “buts” start. Teachers wouldn’t have to distribute them if they didn’t want to. The answers would be kept confidential. Only the teachers would have access to the answers; administrators wouldn’t have a right to see the responses. The survey could not be used as part of a teacher evaluation or be entered in a teacher’s personnel file.
