When coming up with state budget last year, the N.C. legislature passed a version that would eliminate tenure for teachers in the state by 2018. In “exchange” for having to give up tenure status, school districts will give the top 25 percent of teachers a raise of $500 per year.
Since the announcement of the budget, teachers, organizations and many other entities have come out and said eliminating tenure would be harmful to schools in the state.
Last week, both the Guilford County Board of Education and the Durham Public Schools Board of Education filed a lawsuit in Guilford County Superior Court. Additionally, the Wake County School Board and numerous other school districts have passed resolutions to oppose the plan.
Tenure is a policy that guarantees educators a permanent contract after a certain number of years. Tenure is supposed to ensure that teachers cannot be fired for the wrong reasons. Nowadays, tenure is considered to be a form of protection for teachers, making sure that they are treated appropriately.
North Carolina ranks 46th in the nation in teacher pay and continues to fall further and further behind our neighboring states. It also takes nearly 15 years for a teacher to earn more than $40,000 in a North Carolina classroom, although for the 2013-14 school year, the national average starting salary for a teacher was $36,141.
The North Carolina chapter of the Students for Education Reform recently began a campaign called “Rebuilding the Ladder,” in an effort to improve the career ladder for North Carolina’s teachers.
Paying teachers based on performance is extremely unfair, especially given the fact that not all school districts are the same. A low-income, rural area may not have the same resources as an urban, wealthier district.
Taking away tenure sends a message from the state that it doesn’t support our educators and quite frankly, public education. Then, when these teachers don’t get the support they need, they leave — putting students in a bind without proper educators teaching them material.
This would be especially true in underrepresented areas of the state that already struggle with teacher recruitment and retention. Wealthy school districts and private education will remain afforded and protected for the most part, while others might not perform as well.
