North Carolina ends teacher tenure
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a landmark budget bill last week – one that is full of education reforms, including the end of teacher tenure in the state. Tenure doesn’t guarantee a teacher a job for life. But it does make it much more difficult for a district to let go of a...
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a landmark budget bill last week – one that is full of education reforms, including the end of teacher tenure in the state.
Tenure doesn’t guarantee a teacher a job for life. But it does make it much more difficult for a district to let go of a teacher if he or she is not meeting expectations.
Essentially, tenure guarantees that laid-off teachers have multiple avenues to appeal their firings, from local school boards to superior courts.
Under North Carolina’s old tenure law, teachers could earn tenure after only four years on the job – regardless of the impact they were having on student achievement. Now, districts can only offer two- to four-year contracts to teachers, and no job is permanent.
Illinois’ current tenure law mimics North Carolina’s old law. Teachers can earn tenure after teaching for only four years – three if they have been rated by their principal as excellent.
Public school teachers unions across the state love this arrangement. The tenure law places such a legal and financial burden on school districts that most administrators don’t bother letting tenured teachers go, even if they are underperforming.
Scott Reeder, investigative journalist at the Illinois News Network, highlighted the problems with the state’s tenure law in a series of articles he wrote for the Small News Group in 2005:
- From 1987 to 2005, only 61 districts, or 7 percent, of Illinois’ 876 school districts attempted to fire a tenured teacher
- Of those 61 districts, only 38 were successful in actually firing a teacher
- Between 2001 and 2005, districts spent an average of $219,504.21 in legal fees for tenured teacher dismissal cases
Unfortunately, it is Illinois’ students who suffer the most from this antiquated law – one that creates an education system that prizes job security over teacher effectiveness.
A large body of research shows that having an ineffective teacher in front of students has a lasting impact on their success later in life. In fact, a study conducted by Stanford’s Eric Hanushek showed that a low-quality teacher can cost students up to $400,000 in lifetime income.
Illinois needs to follow in North Carolina’s footsteps and immediately repeal its tenure law. Consider it the first of many steps that Illinois needs to take to reorient its education system toward serving students rather than the adults who work for it.