If cuts must be made, look to bad teachers, not new

Here's an idea. Let's all try to stay calm today as we discuss the most explosive issue in education.

Tenure.

You know, job security. On steroids. The kind most workers will never have.

Tenure has one major drawback: It protects bad teachers. Everything you need to know about it can be gleaned from this honking headline in Thursday's Pilot:

"Newest Beach teachers warned layoff is possible."

In other words, thanks to a paternalistic educational system that assumes it's unfair to review teacher performance annually, older instructors are immune to layoffs. After a few years on probation, "continuing contracts" are awarded to educators. Once those contracts are inked, it becomes devilishly hard to dislodge mediocre teachers.

That's why only newcomers are likely to be threatened with layoffs in a sour economy.

Talk about unfair labor practices. It doesn't matter if the newbie is blindingly brilliant or able to get staggering results from at-risk kids. If that teacher is new, his or her job may be on the line.

Let's not forget that along with the fresh-out-of-college faculty members, there are some career-switchers. These are mostly middle-age instructors who came to the profession after amassing a wealth of experience in the private sector or the military. Many took pay cuts to teach children.

Now they, too, could lose their jobs.

Look, layoffs are hideous. I work in an industry that's been mired in them for several years. I've seen how painful it is to trim a workforce that's already been thinned out through retirement and attrition.

But there are times when there are simply no good alternatives.

According to news reports, Beach school administrators reckon they may have to get by on about $40 million less next year than they need to operate. Unless the peasants grab their pitchforks and march to City Hall, some teachers may have to go.

You don't need a degree in economics to understand how this works. A combination of stagnant wages and a drop in real estate values reduces revenue. When revenues drop, public spending is slashed. The only alternative is to hike taxes on folks who already are struggling. Bad idea.

It's gloomy news all around, but the real pity is that the only teachers biting their nails this spring will be the new ones. Not the bad ones.

Yeah, yeah, we've all heard the saying "last hired, first fired." But you rarely see that principle in action.

Private employers don't cut workers loose based on a rigid formula of start dates. They try to hang onto talent that will allow their slimmed-down organization to be successful.

When it comes to kids, you'd think the only concern would be to retain the very best teachers. You'd be wrong.

Some of the most accomplished educators at the Beach are the ones who have been there the longest. But that's also where the tired ones hide, with their yellowed lesson plans and moth-eaten teaching techniques.

Two bills are making their way through the General Assembly to put an end to this lunacy: HB576 and SB438.

The governor supports the change. So does common sense.

Kerry Dougherty, 757-446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net, PilotOnline.com/dougherty