The Virginia legislators seem to be running a contest to see who can think up the most ways to screw Virginia public school educators.  Currently, Virginia teachers, after a 2 year probationary period, become eligible for a continuing contract.   Teachers still can be fired on continuing contract but not without an administrator dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s.  The due process is very specific.  Of course there are other ways to instantly remove a teacher for criminal activity or fiduciary impropriety. 

The Richmond Times Dispatch reports:

RICHMOND, Va. —

The House of Delegates today passed 55-43 an overhaul of the public school teacher and principal contract and evaluation system.

The plan would phase out a tenure-like system in favor of term contracts.

The measure would make it easier for school divisions to fire teachers. The plan, which was a centerpiece of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s education agenda, drew opposition from advocates for teachers.

Those not familiar with how evaluation in public school works might be misguided and think that this is a good thing.  No.  Not really.  Nothing is more subject  to politics than public education and teacher evaluations. Kissing the right asses is always important on the job but for teachers it will become critical.   Throw in the fact that seasoned teachers are more experienced and therefore cost more  and you have a very dangerous situation for veteran teachers.   If a jurisdiction needs to save money, fire all the expensive veteran teachers.  It won’t matter in the long run because the parents can all be duped into thinking that experience and know-how really don’t matter. 

The proposed 3 year contracts do not have to be renewed and no reason needs to be given.  Teachers currently on continuing contract will not be affected unless they change school systems. 

As if this wasn’t bad enough, there is now proposed legislation that is galloping through  the statehouse to completely overhaul the state pension plan.  Current state and local employees and teachers will have a drastic change in their VRS retirement plan:

The House of Delegates Monday gave preliminary approval to major reforms to the state’s pension plan in the form of reduced retirement benefits for current and future state workers and an optional defined-contribution plan.

Sponsored by Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, House Bill 1129 would, among other things, place a 3 percent cap on cost-of-living adjustments to retirement benefits for future and current state employees and teachers, except those within five years of retirement. The current cap is 5 percent or 6 percent, depending on the date of hire.

A House Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday stripped from the bill a McDonnell proposal to increase the state employee share of retirement costs from 5 percent to 6 percent of pay.

House Bill 1130, also sponsored by Howell, would create an optional defined-contribution plan for state employees, effective Jan. 1, 2014, under which workers would manage their own pension accounts. Currently, most retirees receive a defined-benefit pension, set entirely by the state.

What will all of this do?  It will cause a mass exodus of state and county employees to beat the new reduced retirement benefits.  How does the plan determine who is within 5 years of retirement?  

The war on teachers shown by Virginia legislators is deplorable.  Virginia legislators should be ashamed of themselves.  Are teachers  being singled out because there really is a movement to destroy public schools?  It sure seems like it to the casual observer.  There can’t be many happy state or county employees in Virginia  tonight.  If I were either kind of employee I would be planning my retirement right now to get out while the getting is good. 

 

20 Thoughts to “Virginia General Assembly thinks up new ways to screw Virginia teachers”

  1. Elena

    Why is it that teachers should have less protection than other job in the private sector? When school budgets get crunched, what is the easiest way to save money……..get rid of the teachers who get paid the most.

  2. @Elena,

    Absolutely.

    I just read now that 40% of the evaluation attached to this bill based on student progress. Interesting. You can also give that teacher really low achieving kids. When he or she doesn’t turn sow’s ear into a silk purse, off with that teacher’s head.

    Staunton News Leader:

    The legislation by Bell, a Republican and a former teacher himself, would also require that anyone who would work under a contract serve a probationary five-year term before being given a three-year contract.

    Local school boards would adopt an evaluation process based on state guidelines, and student academic success would account for 40 percent of the evaluation.

  3. I am not sure now why anyone would go into teaching in Virginia. Lousy pensions, and job security based on building politics.

    I don’t think there are any assurances that classes will be distributed equally. Now teachers will be less willing to teach those low achieving students. All this on top of NCLB still lingering in Virginia. 2014 is the year all students should pass. 100% pass rate.

    Pardon me, I am laughing. It is just sad. I cannot imagine what person would want to teach in Virginia. Quality teachers will just go elsewhere.

  4. Censored bybvbl

    @Moon-howler

    I agree that it will be harder to find teachers. Back in the olden days, most educated women could only hope to be a teacher, nurse, or executive secretary. A rare few managed to become docs or lawyers. Now that most fields are open to women, fewer choose teaching. And now the state wants to make it an even more unattractive choice. I suppose it’s the state’s way of “union busting” in a right-to-work state. Tenure will be the next big Republican target. Oh my, how they hate so many Americans!

  5. Elena

    So now the state doesn’t give raises, steals from the VSS, AND there is no job security? Wow, sounds like a great career choice.

    Just wondering if anyone else wonders if it is just a coincidence that women make up the majority of teachers?

  6. Censored bybvbl

    @Elena

    I don’t think it’s a coincidence. There’s a war on social services and its clients as well. Again, basically a female dominated field.

  7. marinm

    With the “Work to Rule” protest at Forest Park I’m surprised that so many teachers are fans of Atlas Shrugged. 🙂

  8. Maybe most of the teachers realize that fiction is not reality.

  9. Disgusted

    It’s all part of the conservative jihad! They hate public schools and poor people as much as they hate abortion.

  10. It sure seems like someone is gunning for public schools.

    I believe teachers represent a large group of people paid by public coffers. They are a natural target perhaps. No one has the nerve to target the military.

  11. Kelly_3406

    @Moon-howler

    You have got to be kidding me. Defense spending is being cut by at least half a trillion dollars over the next decade and force reductions will eliminate 67,500 troops over the next 5 years.

    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-14/pentagon-may-oust-troops-involuntarily-under-budget-reductions.html

    Teachers are now joining the rest of society in which lifetime employment is the exception rather than the rule. Since teachers do not conduct research, tenure is not needed to protect academic freedom. Teachers will have no less protection than anyone else in the civilian sector.

    1. @Kelly, what is your point? You cannot compare the military to education.

      Here is the point–if a war errupts or is waged, troop level will build up. That’s the way it works.

      Meanwhile, the stream of kids or those who need to be taught remains fairly constant. Its pretty much supply and demand.

      Teachers conduct research of sorts every day they step into the classroom. Public education teachers don’t have tenure now. We are speaking of continuing contract.

      Teachers will have the protection. That’s the only way jurisdictions will be able to keep them.

      Ever taught in public school? Most folks simply can’t do it. The skill set just isn’t there.

  12. @Kelly, military retirees of higher rank have a damn sweet deal. They are paid by the government. Why your shock and outrage?

    They are a large group of government employed people. I am not saying they should be targeted. Neither should teachers.

  13. Most of the legislators are too stupid for words.
    Richmond TD:

    Probationary periods would stretch to five from three years, and all teachers and principals would have annual evaluations.

    The House version also allows teachers with continuing contracts to keep them if they switch school divisions.

    A decent evaluation is time consuming. It involves observations and discussion. Who is going to do this? Most school administrators are already overly extended. Who is going to evaluate the principals? More folks at central office needed. They cost a fortune.

    Now for the dumbest part of the bill–currently teachers do not bring their ‘extended contract’ from one jurisdiction to another. Their contract is with their employer, not the state of Virginia. This could lead to the ultimate turkey farming.

    This legislation is becoming last year’s 150 minutes of PE bill. None of the dumb asses on the legislative cheer leading squad had thought it through…there was not time in the school day for a guaranteed 30 minutes of PE. More importantly, there was no place to have the class.

    Too bad education, other than licensure, isn’t kept at the local level.

    My patience with the legislators is simply non-existent. Their voices say keep govt. smaller and their actions worm their way into every aspect of a person’s life.

    I will continue to call this crop ‘dumb asses’ simply because they are.

  14. marinm

    Moon-howler :@Kelly, military retirees of higher rank have a damn sweet deal. They are paid by the government. Why your shock and outrage?
    They are a large group of government employed people. I am not saying they should be targeted. Neither should teachers.

    Military pensions are being looked at and I think the Pentagon came up with moving away from a defined benefit to a defined contribution model.

    I don’t have an issue with taking away ‘tenure’ from public educators. It aligns them more closely with the reality that taxpayers exist in.

    1. @marin, you can’t take away what they don’t have. Public school professional educators in Virginia never get tenure. They have a continuing contract and a triennial evaluation. The continuing contract starts after 3 successful years of probationary teaching. Continuing contract teachers can be fired if due process takes place.

      Educaation is unique. There is no other model. It is based on kids. People have kids. If they stop then there will be no need for teachers. Kids come in all shapes, sizes and degrees of readiness to learn.

      Teachers don’t need to be aligned. They need to be able to work with kids, parents and the community and not subject to politics and ass kissing. They don’t need to be turned out to pasture in favor of green horns who can’t find their tails with both hands. Continuing contracts keep jurisdictions honest and from operating on the cheap. As long as politicians generate the money to pay for schools, experienced teachers will be in danger.

      Since you are now a parent you might want to check in to this more. It perhaps isnt quite as you remember it as a child. Go compare Mrs. Jones with 15 years experience with children to Miss Suzie Q who just graduated from Techer tech and see who you want the young marinms with. There are some sorry veteran teachers and some excellent first and second year teachers but in most cases, the green horns have a lot to learn.

  15. marinm

    “They need to be able to work with kids, parents and the community and not subject to politics and ass kissing.”

    Except that at Forest Park they have interjected themselves into the politics of the issue and in some cases have recruited students to wear protest buttons. I’m not saying they’re wrong – they have that 1A right – but they ceded that high ground.

    “Continuing contracts keep jurisdictions honest and from operating on the cheap.”

    Whats wrong with operating on the cheap?

    “Since you are now a parent you might want to check in to this more.”

    I think to me it’s less about teaching ‘experience’ and more about how well they connect. A veteran teacher may have some ‘old’ knowledge or an unwillingness to try new methods. I also don’t think that all new methods are a good thing – Math Investigations is simply ebonics for math.

    If a teacher can connect to my child and they learn I’d be satisfied. If they cannot I will bring forth the thunder that only a helicopter parent with way more time and money on his hands than he knows what to do with…………….

    1. who connects to your kid might not connect to the same way to another kid. that is one of the tricks of the business.

      No teacher should be recruiting kids to wear buttons. Perhaps that kid was a teachers’ kid or just one who reads the newspapers.

      I do not think those teachers were being political. They weren’t involved in any election or campaign. They were simply pointing out the necessity of funding education and to set a high enough tax rate to give themselves some wiggle room, depending on what the state does.

      The tax rate can get less, never higher than the advertized rate. Showing up in number says that they are concerned. Do you recall Corey asking them to help lobby in Richmond? Being cut back 42 million dollars is a lot of pencils and stars.

      What’s wrong with operating on the cheap? You get what you pay for. You don’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish.

  16. Continuing contract is safe, for now.

    Richmond Times Dispatch:

    Virginia’s Senate on Tuesday spiked Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed overhaul of teacher and principal contracts, dealing a blow to a key piece of his K-12 education agenda.

    The chamber voted 20-18 to scuttle a plan that would affect many of the state’s 100,000 public school teachers. It would phase out a tenure-like contract system and start a three-year term contract process under which it would be easier to dismiss teachers.

    The House of Delegates approved a similar version of the proposal — and that bill will cross over to the Senate, but its fate is uncertain after Tuesday’s dispatching.

    Two Republican senators with educators in their families — Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, and John Watkins, R-Powhatan, did not vote on the bill. All 20 Democrats voted against it. Watkins said after the vote that more consideration should be given to rural jurisdictions and their ability to hire young

    teachers.

    Sen. Norment and Sen. Watkins are courageous and teachers should thank them for doing the right thing.

    Charlie Brown laugh: Mwa mwa mwa Maaaaw

  17. This A-Hole needs a good tongue lashing for these remarks:

    (regarding the ultra-sound bill)

    People on the other side of the issue never talk about the issue of the invasiveness to the unborn,” said Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. “In the vast majority of these cases, these are matters of lifestyle convenience.”

    Later in the day, Gilbert circulated a statement saying he regretted his “insensitive” remarks.

    Gilbert lives in Woodstock and is a member of the Legislative dumb-asses.

    Email: [email protected]

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