April 29, 2015 - SACRAMENTO – The Chair of the Assembly Education Committee today shelved three #GreatSchools4CA bills that would have provided more support and feedback to teachers, and ensured that district layoff decisions are made in the best interest of students.
The Education Committee chair sent the bills to be “studied” in an interim hearing – effectively killing the bills without a vote of the committee on the merits of the proposals.
“Every bill should receive an up or down vote. But the committee chair today blocked a fair vote on bills to promote a quality education for every California student,” said Assembly Republican Leader Kristin Olsen of Modesto. “Students, parents, and teachers are not fooled by the political games played today. Every child deserves the opportunity to learn in a good school from a great teacher. I applaud Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber (D- San Diego) who had the courage today to put kids before politics and vote against the ridiculous notion that these bills should be shelved.”
“The committee chair should be educated by his fellow Democrat committee member, Asm. Dr. Weber, who has worked in California’s education system for decades,” said Republican Assemblyman and education committee member Rocky Chavez (R - Oceanside.) “She fights for our kids, and I am honored to serve with her. Let’s not put politics before the children of California.”
“Under Last In First Out, school districts facing layoffs can’t consider, how effective or skilled a teacher is, how many fourth grade teachers they need, or what teachers bring particular talents needed to match an incoming class of freshman,” said Assemblywoman Catharine Baker (R- Dublin.) “What does it say about our education system – what we think of our teachers, and our kids and where our priorities are - that we allow this?”
Among the legislation shelved by the committee chair today were measures to:
Repeal “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) – LIFO policies currently force school districts to lay off their most recent hires first – without regard to professional skill. Assembly Bill 1044 (Baker) would eliminate LIFO so that seniority is no longer the sole factor when professional staffs are reduced. This would allow schools to manage their professional staff so that only effective teachers are paired with students in the classroom.
Provide Teachers with More Meaningful Annual Feedback – Assembly Bill 1078 (Olsen) would support teachers by providing them with annual, meaningful feedback that helps fine-tune their professional skills, thereby improving both job satisfaction and student academic performance. The bill would encourage school districts to include student performance, peer evaluations, and student and parent surveys when assigning teachers with the professional ratings of highly effective, effective, minimally effective, or ineffective.
Give Teachers More Time to Master their Craft – Assembly Bill 1248 (Chávez) would require new teachers to earn three consecutive years of positive professional evaluations before receiving tenure. The bill also allows for tenure to be rescinded if a teacher receives consecutive evaluations of poor performance. This will provide teachers with the opportunity to master their craft before evaluating them for professional tenure and ensure that students are taught by effective teachers.
Olsen noted that a recent “Teach Plus” survey of California public school teachers found strong support for the types of reforms proposed in the #GreatSchools4CA package:
65 percent said that teachers should work in the classroom for 3 to 5 years before tenure decisions are made.
92 percent said that teachers should be required to demonstrate classroom effectiveness before tenure is granted.
75 percent said that it is possible to develop a fair way to evaluate teachers
58 percent said that if a district has to lay off a teacher, the decision should be made partly on performance and partly on seniority.
