Described as a “win-win” for students and educators alike, a bill implementing tenure reform for New Jersey’s teachers was recently signed into law after months of bipartisan debate.
Gov. Chris Christie signed the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act at Von E. Mauger Middle School in Middlesex. The Republican governor described the law as a landmark piece of legislation that provides school districts with tools to identify effective teachers and efficiently dismiss ineffective teachers.
“This is a historic day for New Jersey, and this new tenure law is an important step towards ensuring we have a great teacher in every classroom,” Christie said.
In accordance with the law, newly hired teachers must work for four years instead of three to obtain tenure, and their first year requires mentoring from an established teacher. Also, superintendents must file tenure charges of inefficiency against a teacher after two unsatisfactory annual evaluations.
To expedite the process of teacher dismissal, all tenure charges will now be decided by one of 25 certified arbitrators, not the state commissioner of education. Cases can cost no more than $7,500 and must be decided upon within 105 days. Steve Wollmer, communications director for the New Jersey Education Association, which supported the bill’s passage, emphasized the need for this change.
“Under the prior law, if a teacher wanted to appeal a dismissal and go before a judge in the court system, it might take $300,000 and three years,”
Wollmer said. “It shouldn’t take that long and cost so much to dismiss a teacher, but we have to also make sure teachers are treated fairly and maintain their right to due process.”
Wollmer said the NJEA is satisfied with the measures taken in the
TEACHNJ Act. Representatives of
NJEA, including President Barbara
Keshishian, even attended the signing of the tenure reform bill.
Edison Township Education Association President Jeff Bowden, who served as a teacher for 28 years before becoming president this year, said the long-term impacts of the reform will be seen over time. “In every profession, there are good workers and marginal workers, not only in the teaching profession, so the long-term goal is that every classroom will have a master teacher,” he said. “The extra year [to acquire tenure] is minimal, and there is more time to develop into a master teacher.”
State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) was the prime sponsor of the TEACHNJ Act and said the law represents nearly two years of bipartisan work.
Marlboro Township Superintendent of Schools David Abbott credited Ruiz with orchestrating the bill through the Democratic controlled Legislature.
“A lot of good things happened here, and I agree with Sen. Ruiz that she probably got all she could have gotten,” Abbott said. “The piece that is missing is the seniority piece. Nobody would deal with that.”
This “seniority piece” is the policy of “last-in, first-out,” meaning that newer teachers are laid off before veteran teachers when school districts make budget cuts. Christie has denounced the policy but was unable to garner enough support to include the elimination of seniority rules in this round of reforms. However, he promised not to give up on the issue.
“Our work to develop laws that put students first is not done,” Christie said. “Now is the time to build on this record of cooperation and results to put in place further reforms focused on our students by ending the flawed practice of last-in, first-out.”
State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) is picking up where Christie left off. Days after the tenure reform bill was signed, Kyrillos proposed legislation to end the last-in, first-out seniority protections. Kyrillos’ bill would also allow teachers to earn merit pay and give principals greater autonomy to make staffing decisions. However, many representatives of teachers’ unions disagree as to how much of a threat seniority practices pose on a student’s education. In fact, Wollmer said the TEACHNJ Act virtually eliminates the problem altogether.
“They are saying if a district is facing layoffs, and there is an ineffective teacher that has been there a long time and an effective new teacher, why lay off the effective new teacher? But under the new law, there is no excuse to have even one ineffective teacher,” Wollmer said.
There is nothing inherently wrong, Wollmer said, with having career experience, and every profession relies on its veteran members.
State Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly’s education committee, agrees.
“I taught at Middlesex County College for 10 years, and I was a much better teacher at the end of those 10 years than I was in the beginning,” he said. “It is appropriate to recognize seniority.”
Despite this inconsistency with the governor’s goals, Diegnan emphasized the positive changes he believes the TEACHNJ Act reforms will introduce into New Jersey’s education system.
“Everyone supported it because no one wants bad teachers in front of the classroom,” he said. “The purpose was to be able to remove non-performing teachers in an expedited manner, and we did that.”
The tenure reforms will be implemented statewide for the 2013-14 school year.