I’ve blogged this one before, but there are changes that suggest both a new relevance and a better solution. The notion of tenure gets mixed up with seniority. The former, born of protecting outspoken academics at a university level whose expertise at cutting-edge writing and research are essential, sounds noble.Seniority, on the other hand, sounds defensive and a tad “old world” blue collar. There is no cutting-edge writing and research at a primary and secondary school level; the faculty is in the business of generating the basic skills necessary either for life or elevation to further education. Still, the unions insist on calling keeping older teachers secure in their jobs regardless of skills tenure.
Tenure just sounds better, but at almost every primary or secondary school in the nation, it is a hubristic indulgence, an obstacle to giving children the best education from the best educators. Under the guise of a hoity-toity academic freedom, we have saddled our children with too many job-secured-seniority-touting bad teachers. Not that those who have taught for decades are in any way inferior because of the long ride, noting how many have reached the pinnacle of teaching ability (perhaps grabbing a few advanced degrees along the way), but seniority is an ugly excuse to protect the incompetent, those unwilling to embrace necessary modernity, and those who simply erode the values America needs to be competitive. Easy to get rid of those new to the system. They lack the prophylactic seniority to stay the course. Out they go!
But collective bargaining, moribund in the private sector, has blossomed in the public sector and nowhere more than among teachers in California. The California Teachers Association (CTA) appears to be the more powerful labor organization in the state. In the late 1970s, it represented about 170,000 teachers, more than doubling those numbers into the present day. Their campaign coffers are bursting with dollars for CTA-protective-minded legislators, and it is common knowledge, particularly for Democrats, that opposing the CTA and its policies is a fast road to an underfunded losing campaign. Dues are stiff, running sometimes to as much as $1000 per teacher, and those jingling coffers with the underlying political backing across the board, lure legislators to CTA-issues like a candle draws moths.
The CTA has become a “a political behemoth that has blocked meaningful education reform, protected failing and even criminal educators, and pushed for pay raises and benefits that have reached unsustainable levels.” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2012. Given California’s size, the CTA has done more to block change in our public school system than any other organization on earth. Aside from making it generally impossible to get rid of bad teachers at every level, they have elevated protecting their misnamed “tenure” union right above all else.
How bad is this “tenure system” and exactly how does it work? My business consulting friend, Dennis Duitch (in his June 22nd RSS feed), lays it on the line: “It’s just another proud endorsement of the California public school system, where even grossly ineffective teachers receive ‘tenure’ after less than two years on the job with only a one-in-125,000 chance of ever being fired for incompetence – since ‘the worst teachers, even after being removed from classrooms, are often still paid to do nothing and when they rape students are often defended by the teachers’ unions; the process can take ten years and cost a school district up to $450,000.’ … [T]he situation is… bleak and [California] student scores continue to rank last place among the 50 states. [COMMUNITIES DIGITAL NEWS – Jun 12, 14]”
Thus, it has been commonly accepted that the California legislature would never pass reforms that might begin to solve the plunging standards of California schools, already impaired by budget cuts from impaired economic times. Current educational needs have of necessity been sacrificed to service overly-generous (and underfunded) pension obligations for people who are no longer active educators. Even as every educated administrator and legislator knows how bad the seniority system has slammed the school system, everyone is also acutely aware that nothing is likely to change because of the political realities noted above. Ah, but what if the challenge to a failed system did not have to come from voting legislators?
With support from the United States Department of Education, students picked up the issue and attacked the unions in court: “A California judge ruled [June 10th] that teacher tenure laws deprived students of their right to an education under the State Constitution and violated their civil rights. The decision hands teachers’ unions a major defeat in a landmark case, one that could radically alter how California teachers are hired and fired and prompt challenges to tenure laws in other states.
“‘Substantial evidence presented makes it clear to this court that the challenged statutes disproportionately affect poor and/or minority students,’ Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court wrote in the ruling. ‘The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience.’
“The decision, which was enthusiastically endorsed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, brings a close to the first chapter of the case, Vergara v. California, in which a group of student plaintiffs backed by a Silicon Valley millionaire argued that state tenure laws had deprived them of a decent education by leaving bad teachers in place.” New York Times, June 10th.
The case has a long way to go through the appellate process, but at least there is a path towards addressing not what’s best for incumbents, but what’s best for our children. The union is ready to kick back hard: “‘We believe the judge fell victim to the anti-union, anti-teacher rhetoric and one of America’s finest corporate law firms that set out to scapegoat teachers for the real problems that exist in public education,’ said Joshua Pechthalt, the president of the California Federation of Teachers, one of two unions that represent roughly 400,000 educators in the state. ‘There are real problems in our schools, but this decision in no way helps us move the ball forward.’” NY Times.
We have dug ourselves into a deep hole. With trillions of dollars of unfunded state and local government pensions, a huge segment of that obligation sitting with teachers from our public school systems, we are simply unable to support our obligations. Something has got to give. We need a new tax base (perhaps moving revenues from gangs and cartels to government treasuries through the controlled legalization of marijuana) and more realistic structures that reflect the modern era.
We also cannot expect good educational results from allowing clearly inferior (even horrible) teachers to keep their jobs. If you think uncapped and undisciplined spending, supporting mediocrity simply “because,” is acceptable, take a quick trip to Detroit and look around. There needs to be a reasonable compromise to protect pensions, and there needs to be a ground-up rebuilding of a public educational system that is no longer dedicated to giving our children the education they need for a very tough future.
I’m Peter Dekom, and it is time to do the obvious to fix what we can no longer sweep under the rug.
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