TRENTON — From opposite corners of the Statehouse and opposite sides of the political spectrum, Gov. Chris Christie and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) agreed Thursday — the state’s antiquated teacher tenure laws are in need of reform. At a press conference, Christie said tenure reform should be a nonpartisan issue. Adults’ priorities should not be put ahead of...
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State Senator Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) is preparing to draft a tenure reform bill. A Colorado state senator told a New Jersey Senate committee today that tenure should be a job protection first earned and then maintained over time TRENTON — From opposite corners of the Statehouse and opposite sides of the political spectrum, Gov. Chris Christie and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) agreed Thursday — the state’s antiquated teacher tenure laws are in need of reform.
At a press conference, Christie said tenure reform should be a nonpartisan issue. Adults’ priorities should not be put ahead of children's in devising an evaluation system to reward teachers’ successes and punish their failures, he said.
Ruiz chairs a Senate education committee that heard testimony Thursday from 27 experts about ways to improve the state’s current teacher tenure system. She called the hearing a "first step" in her effort to draft tenure reform legislation she hopes the governor will back.
"This issue necessitates bringing everyone to the table," Ruiz said. "It doesn’t matter what perspective you have, everyone agrees that teachers must be strong leaders to deliver what our children deserve."
The committee heard from educators, administrators, academics and many others who echoed a few common complaints — the current teacher evaluation system is broken, young educators need more mentoring from veterans, and the process for dismissing bad teachers should be streamlined.
Colorado state Sen. Mike Johnston told the committee tenure should be a job protection first earned and then re-earned over time — not the near guarantee of employment it has become in many states. Most New Jersey teachers receive tenure after three years and one day on the job.
"Tenure often protects the low performers," Johnston said. "When the law takes effect, we will know no one that has it didn’t earn it or didn’t work to keep it."
Johnston supported a Colorado law signed this spring requiring all teachers to undergo annual evaluations, of which 50 percent is based on student performance in the classroom. A teacher receiving poor evaluations for two years will lose tenure, which is seen as a "badge of honor," he said.
Ada Beth Cutler, Montclair State University’s College of Education and Human Services dean, testified the state must also do more to mentor the teaching profession’s youngest, most inexperienced members as it prepares to rewrite its tenure laws.
Cutler cited statistics that one third of teachers nationally leave the profession in the first three years, many of whom say they did not receive enough administrative support while working in schools.
The Senate committee also heard from Orange Public Schools Superintendent Ronald Lee, who has first-hand experience in firing bad teachers. Lee described filing tenure charges against an employee for "inefficiency." When the district lost its case, it had to repay the teacher $29,518 in back pay the teacher had accrued while suspended.
"Good teachers are to be highly regarded and held in high esteem. It is the small minority of poorly performing teachers/staff that seek the cloak of protection under tenure laws," Lee said.
"So that begs the question: Does tenure really protect teachers from favoritism and politics or does it protect ineffective and less competent teachers?"
Christie said, in referring to the state’s largest teachers union, "There is such a consensus on this across the country everywhere except for the NJEA and its affiliates."
The governor has criticized as inadequate a union proposal announced earlier this week to replace administrative law judges with arbitrators in tenure disputes. The New Jersey Education Association said the shift would make revocation of teacher tenure less costly and time consuming.