The Problem With Teacher Unions

There is an article in the November 19, 2009 Wall Street Journal by Neil King Jr. and John Hechinger titled D.C. School Chief Targets Tenure. Michell Rhee, Chancellor of D.C. public schools said she was initiating the layoffs based on "quality, not be seniority." The Washington Teachers' Union filed a grievance and a lawsuit. Ms. Rhee is quoted as saying " ...that it makes no sense for a struggling district to ignore teacher quality when initiating layoffs, an issue she called 'one of the age-old sacred cows of unionism."

I couldn't agree more. If we are ever going to straighten out the teacher quality issue in education we need to get away from the teacher union stances on tenure and reduction in force based on seniority. I will admit that administrators make mistakes in giving poor and average teachers tenure. However, it is often a different administrator who inherits these teachers and needs to make these difficult decisions about teacher placement and also continued tenure. Until K-12 public education takes extraordinary steps to change state tenure laws and reduction in force laws then we will continue to have poor teachers.