PMCT: the Facts about Teacher Tenure

Tenure has removed much of the injustice and politics from the discipline or dismissal of New York teachers, but it remains one of the most misunderstood provisions of education law. Perhaps the most widely believed myth associated with tenure -- spread by some school officials and critics of public education -- is that tenure provides teachers with a job for life.

It's just not true. Tenured teachers can be dismissed for misconduct, incompetence, or insubordination, but only after they have been given the right to defend themselves. An impartial hearing officer or a three-member panel decides each case on its merits.

Doesn't tenure protect incompetent teachers?

Teachers are regularly observed and evaluated by administrators. If a teacher is incompetent, a competent administrator should be able to demonstrate it to a hearing panel or officer. Those with no talent for teaching should never be able to earn tenure in the first place.

Teachers don't want incompetents in their profession. Incompetents make the job harder for the good teachers, and diminish the stature of the profession. Tenure doesn't protect incompetent teachers -- incompetent school boards and their managers do!

Shouldn't we be able to get rid of mediocre teachers, and just keep the best?

Without tenure, few teachers would be willing to risk trying experimental or innovative instructional methods, so the very best teaching would wither and die. The truth is that management tends to encourage mediocrity because it is non-threatening and easy to understand.

Why don't other occupations have tenure?

Many do, and often they receive it faster than teachers. Millions of workers receive protection from unfair dismissal through either union contracts or civil service law. We believe that every worker deserves this basic right.

What's wrong with the five-year renewable tenure plan that's been proposed?

Five-year renewable tenure would mean that teachers would be subject to unjust and unwarranted dismissal every fifth year, denied the opportunity to defend themselves. It would be the same as requiring, every once in a while, that we give up our right to a fair trial.

Why is there so much opposition to teacher tenure?

Many school boards would like to cut costs by substituting young, inexperienced teachers for those who are older and better paid. Tenure stands in their way.

Now that teachers finally are earning decent salaries, teaching jobs may be used as political patronage positions, or dispensed to the friends and families of those with the proper connections. This provides incentive to force out those who currently hold those jobs.

Finally, there is the desire to remove teachers who refuse to support the political, social, or religious agendas of the intensely ideological school boards that have seized control of many school districts in recent years. Academic freedom is as much an issue today as at any time in the past.

For an update on public attitudes towards tenure, click here.

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