posted on January 8, 2005 09:28:00 AM new
Arnold Drops a Nuke on Teacher Unions
by Lance T. Izumi
SACRAMENTO, CA – Arnold
Schwarzenegger is proving that he is truly the reformer that Californians hoped he would be when they elected him governor.
While his rumored budget reforms got the most buzz before his state of the state address, his proposal to overturn teacher tenure and link teacher pay to merit and performance epitomizes his willingness to take on the powerful special interests that control Sacramento.
In California, after completing a two-year probationary period, teachers receive "permanent status" or tenure. Once tenured, it is virtually impossible to fire a teacher, regardless of poor performance.
According to a Pacific Research Institute study of California's teacher-tenure system, a tenured teacher "cannot be dismissed solely for failing to improve student achievement."
Worse, "if students consistently fail to advance under one teacher, there is no explicit provision that allows districts to commence the dismissal process." Governor Schwarzenegger correctly observes that "An educational system that rewards and protects a bad teacher at the expense of a child is wrong." The tenure system has been shockingly effective in protecting bad teachers.
In The Worm in the Apple, an expose of teacher unions, former Forbes editor Peter Brimelow quotes an attorney who says that teacher termination hearings in California are "as detailed, as voluminous and painstaking as the O.J. trial." Take the case of Juliet Ellery, a San Diego-area high school teacher.
Ms. Ellery refused to answer student questions, demeaned and insulted students, and refused to adhere to lesson plans. Frustrated students circulated a petition to have her dismissed. The district then spent eight years and $300,000 trying to fire Ellery. Although her teaching credential was eventually suspended for one year, Ellery returned to teaching after the suspension. Unsurprisingly, few districts try to fire bad teachers.
According to the state Office of Administrative Hearings, in the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1990 to 1999, only 13 dismissal panels were convened and just one tenured teacher's case went through the dismissal process from beginning to end. In order to overhaul this dysfunctional system, Governor Schwarzenegger wants "teacher employment to be tied to performance, not to just showing up" and "teacher pay to be tied to merit, not tenure." Other influential bodies agree.
The Teaching Commission, chaired by former IBM head Louis Gerstner, recently recommended that teacher pay be based on performance as measured by frequent individual teacher evaluations that include assessments of student achievement and other teacher skills. The Commission recommended a value-added assessment system that looks at annual improvements in student performance as measured by state tests.
This system would then estimate how much a teacher has contributed to a student's gains, factoring in projections based on past performance. A teacher who raised students' scores significantly would be deemed effective. In a recent paper, the Pacific Research Institute proposes a value-added assessment model for California that includes many of the elements recommended by the Commission.
The state's powerful teacher unions will fight the governor's proposals tooth and nail.
Addressing legislators, Governor Schwarzenegger put this battle into perspective: "This is a battle of the special interests versus the children's interests. Which will you choose?"
Hopefully, policymakers in Sacramento will make the right choice.
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Lance T. Izumi is senior fellow in California Studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
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Arnold is the best thing to ever happen to CA...and this, imo, should have been done years and years ago. Hope it's successful and I can see no reason that the people of CA would be against chosing the children over a powerful 'special interest' group. GO ARNOLD!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 09:47:56 AM new
GO ARNOLD!
**THIS** is the reason I want more non-career politicians in office. No politician hoping for a re-election would ever dream of doing this, and it's just so totally necessary!
I wonder how the left-wingers will try to spin THIS into a bad thing?
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posted on January 8, 2005 09:51:31 AM new
Linda - I don't know that I would say that Arnold is the best thing that ever happened to California but I agree that this seems like the kind of common sense action that should have been taken long ago.
Of course you know this will mean yet another teachers strike... This time I say the schools just lock them out. Bring in a new crop... the young, hungry and idealistic ones that still believe they can actually accomplish something. Apathy is vicious circle... maybe energy can be too.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on January 8, 2005 10:36:31 AM new
replay - Have you read that Arnold won't run again? I hope he does.
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fenix - I wouldn't expect you to say that [about Arnold] but have always felt you are not one of our 'extremists' here either. It IS a common sense proposal.
On a possible teachers strike: Let them strike...I really believe most would support this legislation. But that doesn't mean the CA legislature will support it. But there's still hope.
posted on January 8, 2005 10:51:42 AM new
Linda, would you get off the flippin team game scenario!
How ridiculous and childish it is always making it a red team and a blue team competition..
I too agree and applaud Arnold on this proposal... Wonders of wonders... imagine another Blue uniform agreeing with a red!!
Oh..la..la..C'est Incroyable!
posted on January 8, 2005 10:59:39 AM new
maggie - You post how and what you wish to and I will do the same.
Your assumption is incorrect. I LIKE finding areas where the left and the right can find common ground. So I'm happy to read you also agree with this proposal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 11:28:43 AM new
"Have you read that Arnold won't run again? I hope he does."
No, I haven't heard that.
But obvously he's not going to be out of a job long if he loses the election. Losing a second term would not be a life-shattering disaster for him.
He's in this to actually do some good, not build up his personal power as a lifetime politician. He's willing to take political risks that someone like Ted Kennedy would never even consider.
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posted on January 8, 2005 01:00:16 PM new
Good for Arnold. I Think Maria has political ambitions that she would like to persue. But until then I sure hope other states jump in and do the same.
Most teachers contracts have a no strike contract and I wish when teachers strike that they are out the door. No ifs, ands or buts, strike and your gone. It happened in Wisconsin a number of years ago when Hortonville teachers decided to strike, well they did and none had jobs the next day. There are so many unemployed teachers that it probably would only take a week to fill jobs.
It is getting, at least in our community, that the school budget is taking over half the tax money and I see no end to this unless they get rid of pork in management with consolidation of jobs and the benefits of the teachers. Let them pay for part of their benefits and get rid of tenure. There should be no job that an employee can't get fired from. Teachers pay should be paid by performance. Not by how many years they have been working for the school district.
[about Arnold] but have always felt you are not one of our 'extremists' here either. 
But there's still hope.