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Battle over teacher tenure continues

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The hugely contentious issue of teacher tenure is currently facing another legal test in a courtroom just up the road in Los Angeles. The stakes for public education in California — indeed, for the entire nation — are high, since many observers believe the case in question is ultimately headed for a date with destiny at the U.S. Supreme Court.

It’s entirely possible that the end result will be a repudiation of the long-held system of granting public school teachers near-ironclad job protection, which in California kicks in after the second year on the job. Critics have long contended that these rules make it almost impossible to fire bad teachers, while supporters of the tenure system argue that it’s needed to attract and retain qualified educators.

However this case plays out, the onslaught of challenges by tenure opponents makes it increasingly possible that job protections for teachers will at some point at least be weakened.

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Depending on your perspective, such a result might not be a bad thing. Tenure critics certainly score valid points when they note that teachers enjoy job protections unheard of in other professions, that the system favors older teachers at the expense of younger ones through a last-hired-first-fired protocol, and that tenure can make it extremely difficult for districts to jettison underperforming instructors.

Vergara vs. California, which is currently being argued in the 2nd District California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, pits the battle as one of student rights to a quality education against the rights of teachers.

Two years ago, a judicial ruling in the case held that job protections for teachers are so harmful that they deprive students of their constitutional right to education, and nullified the state’s tenure laws. The judge held that the system kept bad teachers working and disproportionately hurt minority and low-income students. The three-judge appellate panel is now tasked with deciding whether to uphold or overturn that decision.

But let’s be real here. Any suggestion that fixing tenure would have a huge impact on the quality of education is wishful thinking bordering on delusion.

Indeed, if tenure went away tomorrow, our schools would not measurably improve. Not the day after and not 10 years from now. Not without major changes when it comes to issues that are far more consequential to educational quality.

There are so many deep-rooted problems in education that weakening job protections — however satisfying that might feel — would be akin to trying to remove sand from a beach with nothing but a spoon. Poverty, crime, homelessness, hunger, access to basic services, support systems and technology — these are among the biggest impediments to sound education, and these are the issues that deserve the bulk of our time and attention.

The focus on educational reform should be on moving away from a depressing cycle of rote testing and herding kids through the system, and toward finding creative, workable, research-based methods of dealing with the challenges faced by individual communities and school sites. It should be on supporting teachers by putting more of our educational dollars directly into classrooms, not on bloated administrations and overpaid consultants.

It’s also important to remember that the assault on tenure comes amid a significant and growing teacher shortage. In communities across the nation, particularly those in economically hard-pressed areas, it has been increasingly difficult in recent years to fill job openings and hold on to veteran teachers. The U.S. Education Department reports that 68% of public schools nationwide have at least one vacancy, and 15% of schools report that those openings are either “very difficult” or nearly impossible to fill.

Studies have shown that stress and disillusionment among teachers runs high, and that many are discouraged by having to constantly worry about test prep, unfair assessments of their job performances and a general lack of support.

A new study by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Learning Policy Institute found a severe teacher shortage in California, which was most acute in math, science and special education. It said the supply of new teachers is at a 12-year low and urged that steps be taken to avoid a worsening shortfall.

Here’s a thought: Pay teachers more.

This is hardly a novel idea, but it’s rather shocking that it’s one that always fails to gain much sympathy. Many believe that teachers are already well-paid and that higher compensation isn’t justified because they don’t work full days or year-round.

Yet it’s well documented that teachers on average receive less compensation than other professions requiring similar education levels, and arguments that they don’t work as much ignore the many off-the-clock hours that teachers must put in to construct lessons; prepare classrooms; grade students’ work; and hold discussions with colleagues, parents and students.

In a sense, a teacher’s work is never done.

Given how unloved and under-appreciated teachers feel these days, it’s hardly surprising that they’re trying to hold on to one advantage that their profession affords them.

Tenure is an out-dated relic, to be sure, but given the overwhelming issues throughout education, is it really the most important battle to fight?

No, but it’s the battle that’s with us regardless, and it will continue to be waged in the courts in the months and possibly years ahead.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.

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