Patch Poll: Scrap Teacher Seniority? Lawmakers Propose Idea

A new bill proposed early this session at the State Capitol proposes striking an end to teacher seniority, allowing, as supporters say, for school districts to layoff bad teachers and keep good ones.

According to a story in the Star Tribune, the legislation's sponsor, Branden Petersen, R-Andover, wants to do away with seniority, and instead move to an evaluation system for teachers, similar to the one passed last year, and that is now in a task force getting ironed out.

Had such a law been in place, last year's may have been different.

But opponents say that in most cases, experience is tied to good teachers.

"Experience is valued in every other profession," Mary Cathryn Ricker, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, told the Star Tribune. "Why would it be ignored in ours?"

Meanwhile, the Star Tribune reports that nearly 40 percent of Minnesota's school districts have contracts in place that allow for other factors than just seniority when layoffs occur.

Those contracts, according to Education Minnesota, allow flexibility and a sense of security to teachers who have a number of years of experience, the report said.

"I know good teachers," Ricker told the Star Tribune. "My standards are very, very high. I don't want good teachers laid off whether they are in their first year or their 40th."

The Star Tribune reports that "almost 80 percent of Minnesotans believe laying off teachers based solely on experience hurts the quality of education for students, according to a soon-to-be released survey conducted by the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now, an education advocacy group."

And opponents fear this legislation would allow for teachers with a lot of experience, and thus a larger paycheck, to be victims of layoffs in lieu of worse, but cheaper teachers.

will have more on this story as it develops, but in the meantime, what do you think?