Seniority in Teaching: An Unproven Problem
You can always count on Tom Moran and the Star-Ledger editorial page to come up with solutions to problems that they haven't shown to exist:
The NJEA, while backing the weaker tenure proposal, has come miles from where it was on education reform. Yet when it comes to seniority, there was no give. The union, along with most Democrats, argues that veteran teachers will be fired to save more money.
That’s highly unlikely, because it would violate federal laws against age discrimination. The real effect of these rules is districts are forced to fire good young teachers in time of layoffs. And since urban districts are losing students faster and enduring more layoffs, the seniority rules are a special burden to them. In Newark, thanks to a shrinking student population and the rapid expansion of charter schools
