Testimony on "Tenure package" to Senate Education Committee, June 2011

MIPFS submitted testimony on 6/21/11 to the state Senate Education Committee opposing the “tenure” bill package, dubbed by its supporters the “Teacher Quality Package.” We were very concerned that the bills would:

• mandate teacher evaluation systems that relied heavily on standardized tests;
• increase the administrative burden on districts while providing no additional resources;
• encourage strapped districts to do teacher evaluation “on the cheap”;
• provide incentives for administrators to hold down the ratings of more senior teachers so that it would be easier to remove them rather than cheaper, less experienced teachers during a reduction in force.

The bills as passed, now known as Public Acts 100-103 of 2011, still have these problems, which are now complicated by evaluation system provisions that were added to the bills in the Senate. A forthcoming article will explore those provisions.

Attached below are our letter to committee Chair Phil Pavlov and a version of our article explaining our position. The online version of the article can be found here.