Retaining Effective Teachers Policy
Factors to Consider: Tennessee ensures that seniority and tenure status are not the sole factors used by districts to determine which teachers are laid off during reductions in force. Whenever a reduction in force becomes necessary, school boards in Tennessee have the authority "to dismiss such teachers or nonlicensed employees based on their level of effectiveness determined by the evaluation" from the state's evaluation system.
Require that districts consider teacher effectiveness as the most important factor in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions in force.
Tennessee should strengthen its policy and ensure that teacher effectiveness is the determinative factor in layoff decisions.
Tennessee recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state also questioned why it did not fully meet this goal.
To fully meet this goal, states must ensure that performance is the top criterion in decisions pertaining to reductions in force.
9E: Layoffs
"Last In, First Out (LIFO)" policies put adult interests before student needs, yet most districts across the country still use these policies in the event of teacher layoffs. While most states leave these decisions to district discretion, other states require layoffs to be based on seniority. Such policies fail to give due weight to a teacher's classroom performance and risk sacrificing effective teachers while maintaining low performers.[1]
Policies that prioritize seniority in layoff decisions can also cause significant upheaval in schools and school districts. As teachers who are newer to the classroom traditionally draw lower salaries, a seniority-based layoff policy is likely to require that districts lay off a larger number of probationary teachers rather than a smaller group of ineffective teachers to achieve the same budget reduction.
States can leave districts flexibility in determining layoff policies, but they should do so while also ensuring that classroom performance is considered. Further, if performance is prioritized, states need not prohibit the use of seniority as an additional criterion in determining who is laid off.