"Last In, First Out"

James

Current Event #2

Education

Last In, First Out education bill passes Minnesota Senate

T. W. Budig, Star News, February 28, 2012

Two pages

In Minnesota, on February 27^th of this year, the State Senate passed the “Last In, First Out” education bill and will send it to Governor Mark Dayton for his signature.  The bill would allow school boards to decide which teachers to keep or remove during teacher layoffs, based on the teachers’ effectiveness over seniority.  The teachers support it because if they do a good job they are more likely to keep their jobs regardless of whether they are new teachers.  “Last In, First Out”, the present approach, means that the most recently hired teachers are the first to be laid off.  Layoffs are based strictly on the hiring date and not necessarily on the experience the new teacher has. Teachers know that this bill would guarantee them advancement even without tenure.

            One reason some people oppose this bill is because it would open the door to laying off older teachers in favor of newer teachers who could be paid less because they are new to the district.  Another problem with the bill is that this version applies only to probationary teachers and not all teachers.  Some people don’t want this bill because it would take the focus off of school funding to prevent layoffs rather than putting it on how to handle layoffs.  One senator is concerned that young people who would start at a low salary would be discouraged about entering teaching because this bill removes the hope that tenure would guarantee higher salaries.

            If Governor Dayton signs the bill, it will go into effect starting in the 2015-16 school year.  In spite of a fair amount of opposition to the bill among the senators, the bill did pass by a vote of 26-36.  If the bill succeeds in Minnesota it will be closely watched by other state boards of education because this topic has been discussed widely among them.