The Alabama Education Association (AEA) is trying to stop a bill that would make teacher effectiveness a consideration when school districts are forced to make layoffs due to tight budgets.
When districts face budget cuts or enrollment decreases, school leaders sometimes have to carry out what is called a “reduction in force” (RIF) in teaching staff. School districts are currently required by Alabama law to develop their own reduction-in-force policies. As a result, some districts commonly conduct dismissals in inverse order of teachers’ seniority, rather than taking into account how effective the teachers are in the classroom. The last teacher hired is the first teacher fired, regardless of his or her impact on students. This is called “last in first out,” or simply “LIFO.”
But the AEA claims that LIFO is not happening.
“AEA knows of no RIF policy in Alabama for which seniority is the overriding factor,” AEA Associate Executive Secretary Gregory T. Graves recently wrote in an op-ed.
Yellowhammer also acquired a copy of the talking points AEA leadership sent out to their local directors, which said, “Not one of the 134 school system reduction-in-force policies has seniority as the only, or even the majority, criterion.” One of the AEA’s lawyer echoed that during last week’s House Education Policy Committee meeting.
But some quick research easily found that at least 30 local school districts in Alabama use LIFO, in direct contrast to the AEA’s claims. Most school districts put their RIF policies online. You can see the districts that use LIFO in a spreadsheet we prepared here. We’ve highlighted 11 districts in particular that use criteria as arbitrary as random drawings and last 4 digits of SSN as tiebreakers when deciding which teachers to let go.
“It’s simply commonsense that the teachers who work hard day in and day out to ensure that Alabama children are getting the best education possible should be retained and prioritized no matter when they were hired,” said House Speaker Mike Hubbard.
HB478 sponsored by Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, and SB353 sponsored by Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, would simply require that school districts use teacher effectiveness as an important criteria when determining what teachers are laid off in RIF situations — not even necessarily the most important or only criteria, just one of them. These bills do not, however, ban school districts from considering seniority when making these decisions.
“Our main focus is ensuring a quality education for our children, and that means we ought to be protecting our most effective teachers,” Sen. Marsh said. “This bill doesn’t do away with seniority, but it ensures that a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom is also a factor when determining layoffs. It’s absurd that something as arbitrary as a teacher’s social security number can impact who gets laid off, while how much work they put into being a great teacher is not taken into account.”
“If given a choice between a teacher who was hired first or one who is proven to be an effective teacher, any parent would choose the one who will give their child the best education,” Rep. Henry added. “The teacher’s performance will be determined by a fair, comprehensive evaluation that includes multiple measures of student growth.”
To retain Alabama’s effective teachers, the legislature should pass a bill that requires districts to develop RIF policies that consider teachers’ performance. It doesn’t get any more common sense than that. Reforming Alabama’s RIF policies will send a message to great teachers that the state values their hard work and the tremendous impact they have on Alabama’s children.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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