Earlier this month the Governor announced his “All
Students” initiative. Included in that
initiative were the “The Educator Fairness Act” and a 2% salary increase for
teachers and other instructional personnel.
The Educator Fairness Act retains continuing contract for qualifying
teachers, but it ties the grant of continuing contract to satisfactory
performance reflected on annual formal performance evaluations. The evaluation instrument will have to be
consistent with the evaluation instrument approved by the Board of Education. Other noteworthy aspects of the Act are an
extension of the probationary period from 3 to 5 years and a streamlining of
the grievance procedure. The extension
of the probationary period is viewed as a benefit to both the teachers and the
administrators because it will afford teachers more time to demonstrate their
mastery of standards covered by the evaluation, including student academic
progress, and it will give administrators more time to work with probationary
teachers. It is not unusual for
principals and superintendents to ask whether they can extend a teacher’s
probationary period so that they can work with the teacher rather than have to
make the decision whether to recommend non-renewal or to grant continuing
contract status. Extending the
probationary period is not permitted under the current law. It is even more important now that student
academic progress is required to be a significant factor in a teacher’s
evaluation. The streamlining of the
grievance procedure as it relates to dismissals will benefit both teachers and
the school system by ensuring that the matter resolved in a timely
fashion. Currently, it can take 60 or 90
days or even longer for a recommendation of dismissal to come before the school
board for its consideration. This delay
is due mainly to the fact-finding panel procedure in the current grievance
procedure. The Act ensures that a
recommendation of dismissal will be before the school board no longer than 50
days after it was initially made by giving the school board the option of either
hearing the matter directly or appointing a hearing officer to make a record of
the hearing that will be presented to the school board for its
consideration. It is important to note
that the 2% raise for instructional personnel is contingent on the General
Assembly passing The Educator Fairness Act.
