Jun. 23, 2015
HARRISBURG – The House of Representatives today voted to approve legislation to keep Pennsylvania’s best teachers in the classroom and boost student achievement by ending the practice of seniority-based layoffs, said Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), author of the measure.
Under current law, teacher layoffs are conducted in order of inverse seniority. The last teacher hired is the first person fired, regardless of his or her impact on students.
“Our best teachers devote themselves to leading young minds along a meaningful academic journey. They are the very foundation of a quality education system,” Bloom said. “But because of unfair state rules, we often force out our best educators simply because they have fewer years of seniority than other, less effective teachers. Excellent teachers lose the opportunity to build a lasting educational legacy for our children, because we unwisely elevate teacher seniority over teaching success.”
House Bill 805, known as the Protecting Excellent Teachers Act, would strengthen the teaching profession and boost student success by ensuring that school districts use teacher performance to guide furlough and reinstatement decisions. Performance ratings would be based on the comprehensive statewide educator evaluation system adopted in 2012, under which observed educators are assigned a rating of distinguished, proficient, needs improvement or failing.
“This new evaluation system is well balanced and measures a broad matrix of factors, far more than standardized test results,” Bloom said. “Student achievement and growth data, traditional classroom observations, and locally chosen criteria are just some of the multiple measures being used to provide meaningful feedback for educators.”
To protect excellent teachers at all levels of seniority, the Protecting Excellent Teachers Act also prohibits a school district from using a teacher’s pay and benefits in determining any layoff decision.
Bloom added that Pennsylvania is one of only six remaining states that require seniority to be the sole factor in determining layoffs.
“The Protecting Excellent Teachers Act is about looking beyond the narrow-minded existing approach of mandating layoffs based strictly on seniority. Instead, we can give our students the chance to learn with the very best teachers,” Bloom added. “Our kids and our teachers deserve the best teachers in their classrooms.”
House Bill 805 now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Representative Stephen Bloom
199th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abbey Haslam
ahaslam@pahousegop.com
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