We'll see what happens

There is a bill being proposed for the upcoming 2012 legislative session nicknamed the "At Will Bill."  Basically, it is a bill saying you can fire a teacher without cause, without notice and without retirement.  It takes away any kind of "tenure" and negotiations for contracts.  It takes away the due process procedure currently in place to let a poor educator go.  It means that a district can hire/fire at will.  Say you have a 28 year veteran teacher, no complaints, good person, very expensive compared to a first year novice.  If the bill passed, the district could choose to terminate the teacher without reason simply so they didn't have to pay their retirement costs.

I will be the first to say that education, particularly public education, is in a rough place.  There are so many factors to consider when you say "education reform."  So I'll be the first to say  "Yes, get rid of crappy teachers!"  However, this is not the way to go about it.

The Senator sponsoring the bill heard so much feedback about it, he decided to hear what educators had to say.  He held meetings throughout the state to listen to over 1,000 educators, administrators and classified employees.  He has compiled his responses into his senate blog.  You can read it here. 

Being that he's the senator who replaced Buttars; being that he's the newest senator on the hill; being that he's the least experienced, I can only hope for another year of talks and negotiations before something drastic happens.  However, it was refreshing to have someone up there hear and translate and then share what he heard and be able to do it in a respectful fashion.  Thank you!