California Special Election Watch: Proposition 74 – Flap SAYS VOTE YES
Flap supports Proposition 74, Put The Kids First Act, and urges its passage at the California Special Election, November 8th.
Proposition 74: Public School Teachers Tenure
• Public School Teachers. Waiting Period for Permanent Status. Dismissal. Initiative Statute
Summary: Increases length of time required before a teacher may become a permanent employee from two complete consecutive school years to five complete consecutive school years; measure applies to teachers whose probationary period commenced during or after the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Authorizes school boards to dismiss a permanent teaching employee who receives two consecutive unsatisfactory performance evaluations.
Latest polling results and a poll summary is here.
This measure is a much needed reform in California Public Education.
Where in private business can you work one year, have one supervisory evaluation and have lifetime tenure?
The Answer: California Public Schools.
Proposition 74 will give on site administrators more authority and accountability for their teaching staffs. Union rules and hearings will no longer cloud teacher performance issues.
Flap handicaps this measure a close win for Governor Schwarzenegger and his California Recovery Team.
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Special Election, Capitol Research Institute, Proposition 74
Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page
6 Comments
caretta
If your child’s principal was doing a poor job of observing, evaluating, documenting and developing new teachers wouldn’t you want to know about it? How is two years not enough time for a principal to realize that a teacher is having difficulty? Principals and administrators have a responsibility to develop and grow teachers. New teachers need a lot of support. It is the administrator’s job to ensure they get it. No administrator should let two entire years go by without knowing what is going on in a teacher’s classroom on a day to day basis. Prop 74 does nothing to address this. Furthermore, it has the potential to promote nepotism and cronyism. A poor teacher who is “in” with the administration never has to fear a “bad” evaluation thus; they don’t have to fear being fired! If you were a parent wouldn’t you want to know that your child’s teacher feels free enough to advocate for your child’s needs without fear of retribution from the administration? Wouldn’t you want to rest assured that your child’s teacher feels free enough to try new and innovative teaching strategies and approaches? New teachers often enter the field with lots of energy and enthusiasm for their chosen profession. They are informed about the most up-to-date best practices and theories; practices and theories that “old guard†administrators may not be willing to try. Conversely, when it comes to new administrators; wouldn’t you want to know that your child’s teacher (who has now taught for 5 years) is being evaluated by a top-notch educator him/herself? Not a principal who only taught for 3 years and never obtained permanent status him/herself! This is a very real scenario because the teaching requirement for obtaining an administrative credential is only three years! Prop 74 does nothing to improve education. It makes children, parents, and teachers powerless. Take a good look at this proposition and think again!
Flap
Flap has looked long and hard at this measure and will vote for it.
Flap has been a California classroom teacher (secondary) in the LAUSD, been married to an elementary school teacher for over 20 years and been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ventura County Community College District.
From all three perspectives tenure and work rules promulgated by the CTA and AFT are out of control and lessen the accountablitiy of classroom teachers.
And, yes, my 4 children attended public and private schools befor entering college. And, moreover, Flap was involved with the day to day interaction with each of their teachers, coaches and administrators.
The rules need to change.
Flap SAYS YES on Proposition 74.
caretta
I’m leaning toward voting no (as you could probably tell from my prior post) but I’m wondering if you could give me some more information about the CTA and AFT rules that lessen the accountability of teachers?
I am under the impression that teachers are responsible for the test scores of their students. Also, AYP seems to be an indicator of whether or not my children’s teachers and other teachers at their school are doing their job. If a new teacher is not performing doesn’t he or she receive input and support from the administration?
Any information you could give would be appreciated as I decide which way to vote. From what I’ve read in the voter information guide Prop 74 doesn’t seem to address the very real issues I’m concerned about. No, I don’t want poor performing teachers in the classroom but I do want the good ones that are there to be treated as professionals. I want them to feel free to advocate for my children even when it means the administrator may not agree.
I agree that some rules need to be changed in order to ensure that teachers progress in a positive manner along the track to becoming highly qualified, competent professionals. But making them work as unprotected “labor union workers” on probation for five years doesn’t seem to be the way to go about it. I think CTA may not be representative of a majority of hard-working teachers who have their students not their “labor rules” first in mind.
Again any insight into the issue that you can provide from your multiple perspectives would be sincerely considered.
Thanks!
Flap
There isn’t a job I know that grants lifetime guaranteed employment after two years of probationary work. In fact, besides teaching I know of no other jobs besides a federal judgeship that grants such employment rights.
In California it is next to impossible to dismiss a teacher after they have attained permanent (tenured) status.
Proposition 74 addresses this isssue as well as lengthens the time it takes to attain permanent status.
In most jobs if you do not perform, you are out. In California, teachers that do not perform are given extensive hearing rights and usually are not dismissed (sacked).
With regard to your comments on unprotected “labor union workers”, most jobs offer no job security other than performance. Teachers need to perform and be responsible for the performance of their students. If they do not, then they will not achieve permanent status and if already tenured after two unsatisfactory evaluations (and attempted remediation) be dismissed.
Vote YES on Proposition 74 and reform California education.
Taylor
The boilerplate rationale for supporting Proposition 74 is absurd. Imagine the impact that the proposition would have on public safety personnel. Would advocates approve restricting rookie Police Academy graduates to carrying bullet-less firearms while performing their law enforcement duties for five years before they can be trusted with real ammunition? Or would supporters deny rookie fire fighters from climbing a ladder to save a life until they have proven themselves for five years beyond extensive training and certification? Imagine the impact on public safety personnel if they were terminated from their chosen profession on the basis of two unsatisfactory evaluations without any opportunity to improve or right to due process before termination. Yet, supporters of Proposition 74 would not have any qualms imposing this draconian proposition on the teaching profession even though they would readily admit that it would be utterly absurd to apply it public safety personnel. Where is the equity and integrity in that position?
There are approximately 1000 school districts in the State of California. Each of them is governed by an elected school board of directors, overseen by a superintendent, and each school site is managed by a principal, and every student has a parent or care provider. Given all those layers of oversight, how is it possible that a so-called “bad†teacher cannot be terminated? The administrator who whines about the fact he or she cannot remove an ineffective or ungovernable teacher from the classroom should be relieved of duties for incompetence and malfeasance. With so much at stake, why would an administrator not remove a teacher who is not working in the best of his or her students? Instead of the Governor, school boards, and superintendents demanding that administrators perform their well paid jobs, Proposition 74 will reduce the amount of documentation required to legitimately relieve a teacher from duty to virtually zero.
Proposition 74, aka “Blame the Teachers Act,†shows a fundamental contempt for teachers and for children as well. It is tantamount to legislative bullying and using the public as accomplices. Students and teachers are inextricably linked. They are the most vulnerable in the hierarchy of education. They are the easiest to pick on and blame for all the societal ills of California. This point would laughable if it did not have merit. This proposition will enshrine bullies in the educational system and endow them with ultimate power. Is that the kind of climate in which you want your children to be taught?
Who will enter the teaching profession under Proposition 74? There is a reported need for approximately 100,000 new teachers over the next decade, which in all likelihood substantially increases if this proposition passes. Will proponents of Proposition 74 be willing to fill those positions if it passes? If the short answer is, “NO,†then in all fairness and integrity, the same answer must be NO on Proposition 74. If not, woe to California in the future and the voters and non-voters will have themselves to blame.
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