VIDEO: Roseville's John Marty Opposes Bill Ending Seniority As Key Factor For Teacher Layoffs

Roseville state Sen. John Marty on Monday opposed a bill which would change  the way school districts decide which teachers go during layoffs.

Under the bill, which passed 36-26 largely on party lines, teachers' overall experience and their effectiveness would matter more than their seniority or length of service in a particular district in determining who stays on when a school district is faced with making layoffs.

While Marty said he recognizes the need to evaluate teachers, "my problem with the legislation is it very easy to game the system. My question is who is evaluting the evaluators?"

Marty also added, "We are arguing about who we're going to lay off instead of questioning why we're laying off teachers."

Marty's comments can be found at the very beginning of the first YouTube video and about 4.28 minutes into the second video.

Similar legislation has passed in the House. So far, Gov. Mark Dayton has not said whether he would sign the legislation, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Wolf's Bill
Sen. Pam Wolf (R-51) is the author of the bill, which passed the Senate Monday by a vote of 36-26. The second YouTube video starts with her remarks:

Currently, if there's a layoff, teachers are laid off in the order in which they were hired. Hence the term "LIFO" [Last In First Out]. Those who were last in are the first to be laid off. And this is regardless of the amount of experience that a teacher has or the effectiveness that they have in the classroom.

Sometimes we confuse seniority with experience, and they are not the same. Experience has to do with how long a teacher has taught. Seniority has to do with how long a teacher has taught in a particular school district. They are not the same.

What this bill would do is it would change the order of layoff, so that when a layoff occurs, teachers would be laid off first, based on licensure; second, based on effectiveness; and third, based on seniority.

What this bill is not: This bill is not a bill to find and remove ineffective teachers. This bill is strictly dealing with layoffs. In the event of a layoff, teachers would be laid off based on their effectiveness. That would have priority over how long they have taught in that school district.

Given there are layoffs, it is the most important thing that we can do to focus on, that as teachers are laid off that we say the least effective teacher is laid off first, preserving the opportunity for the most effective teachers to be in fact in front of our precious children, our students.