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Christie Takes on Tenure; NJSBA Supports Change

TRENTON, September 29, 2010 —Dramatic changes in the way teachers are compensated and earn tenure dominate an education reform agenda unveiled yesterday by Governor Christie during a town hall-style meeting in Old Bridge.

“We support the direction of Governor Christie’s proposals, particularly serious changes in the century-old system of tenure,” commented NJSBA Executive Director Marie S. Bilik. “School boards operate in a completely different environment today than they did when tenure was established in 1903.

“Over a century of statutes, regulations and court decisions protect employees from arbitrary dismissal and discrimination. More recently, the School Ethics Act and the School District Accountability Act and regulations added to safeguards against patronage hiring and nepotism.

“We don’t buy the union’s arguments about a continued need for lifetime tenure,” she said. “The tenure system has devolved into a lifetime job protection for teachers, regardless of how well they perform in the classroom.”

Under Christie’s proposal, tenure protection, which places the burden of proof on the school board seeking to dismiss an employee, would continue to exist. However, the employee would earn tenure initially and be able to retain it only upon satisfactory evaluations. Currently, an employee receives lifetime tenure protection upon three years and one day service in a school district position. Performance is not a factor in retaining tenure.

Evaluation System Key to the Christie reform effort is development of a uniform evaluation process that would factor in student achievement. Yesterday, the governor issued Executive Order 42, establishing a nine-member task force that will recommend a framework for such a system by March 1.

“Local board of education perspective on developing a fair and consistent evaluation process will be essential, and we hope to participate in the development process,” said Bilik. “The final result has to instill confidence among supervisors and employees in the evaluation system and, therefore, also lead to acceptance of merit based pay and other innovations being proposed.

“It should also accommodate the goals a local school board and administration set for their students, as well as state standards of student achievement.”

According to the governor’s office, at least 50 percent of the evaluation would use “multiple measurements of student learning” In addition, “evaluations will provide for locally selected, state-reviewed measurements of progress that are widely-recognized as relating directly to improvements in school climate, teacher effectiveness and student learning. The Task Force will be given flexibility to consider additional local input of other measurements of effectiveness for use in the evaluations.”

Compensation Elements of the reform agenda would make significant changes in compensation and the application of salary guides. Proposed changes would—

• Prohibit salary schedules or compensation policies that use seniority as the sole basis for advancement.
• Prohibit the use of graduate degree or credit accumulation as a basis, in and of itself, for salary increases, “except in areas where graduate degrees have proven to be effective markers of improved teacher performance such as math and science.” According to NJSBA’s labor relations department, local school boards have been making substantial progress in requiring that graduate credit be eligible for tuition reimbursement and salary guide movement only when related to the employee’s classroom responsibilities.
• Grant schools and districts the flexibility to reward excellence in the classroom and to attract high-quality teachers to low-performing schools or hard-to-fill positions.

Changes in Certification New certification levels, providing an opportunity for additional responsibility and compensation, are also part of the plan. Provisions include—

• Establishing new credentials and career ladders for educators through the designations of “Master Teacher” and “Master Principal.” According to the administration, these new credentials would give “highly effective teachers” the opportunity to increase compensation and status by applying their skills and experience through mentoring, professional development of peers, or founding a charter school.


• Expanding alternate route opportunities for principals. “This plan will increase the number of alternate route programs for principals and update certification requirements to align with the attainment of skills needed to be an effective leader,” states a release from the governor’s office.

Teacher Pre-service Testing The reform agenda would also require that elementary and pre-school teacher preparation programs administer tests in science, reading and math knowledge, in addition to the Praxis test, as a requirement for teacher certification.

The New Jersey School Boards Association is a federation of 588 local boards of education and includes 44 charter school associate members. NJSBA advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.