by David Safier
From the Arizona Education Association, the provisions of HB 2227 that just passed Arizona's House and Senate:
- Permits school districts to reduce the salary of any teacher in any manner and at any time. Prior law said that continuing teachers’ salaries may be reduced only if there is a general salary reduction applied equitably to all teachers and that districts must provide notice of a salary reduction by May 15. Those provisions are eliminated.
- Prohibits school districts from adopting policies that provide priority for employment retention for teachers based on tenure or seniority. This means that districts are not allowed to use seniority as criterion when selecting teachers for reduction in force (RIF).
- Removes the April 15 contract renewal date for notification of probationary teachers (those in their first three years).
- Removes the May 15 contract date for school districts to issue teacher contracts. Districts may now issue contracts any time they want to and at different times for different teachers.
- Districts are no longer required to give a preferred right of reappointment for teachers who lost their jobs due to reductions in personnel (RIF). Prior law required districts to recall teachers on the RIF list to jobs for which they are qualified, for up to three years.
- Prohibit school districts from allowing compensated days for professional association activities.
If that doesn't make intelligent, talented, hard working college students drop everything and become teachers, I don't know what will.
Lower salaries, less job security, crippled teacher bargaining rights. What's not to love?
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I have a question. If districts are allowed to reduce teacher pay at any time and for any reason, does this effectively void the contract? In other words, are teachers free to leave a district at any time and for any reason (i.e., to purse a better teaching opportunity in a competing district)?
Arizona teachers are all now freelance workers, under a finite contract. The day after the school year ends, no contract = file for unemployment. EVERYTHING work related can be written off taxes. Teachers were only allowed $250 for teacher deductions, now that you’re freelance, all expenditures can be written off. Do you use a room in your house for work? Write-off part of your mortgage. If all teachers make the adjustments to their taxes, they will save a lot of money and the legislature will have a coronary from the loss of revenue.
An alternate point of view..
-it allows teachers to be retained if there is a RIF based on student needs and their overall performance
-it allows school districts (and taxpayers) to better manage their money by not committing to contracts before the state budget is done
-it lessens the amount of time that students are stuck with an ineffective teacher
-it prevents districts from having to scare its staff by passing out cautionary RIF notices prior to the state budget being passed
The union doesn’t like it because it removes the trump card that senior teachers used to have (whom are also the mostly likely to be union members); if there was ever a doubt that the union favors senior teachers to the detriment of younger teachers moving their way up, it’s the opposition to this bill. No wonder their membership is dwindling.
Having seen first-hand the pettiness and conniving that goes on even when administrators HAVE to (at least on one level) take seniority into account, I can’t imagine what will happen when they have complete freedom to pick and choose who they RIF. You’ll certainly see a lot fewer teachers sticking their necks out to challenge policies they feel adversely impact the students and the classroom. Some schools will become quite the oppressive little principal fiefdoms.
I had an interview yesterday in an industry unrelated to K-12 education, and they liked me enough that they’re considering me for a position higher than the one I interviewed for. That one pays considerably more than I make teaching. One forgets how well the skills that go into running a successful classroom can translate into other industries. In any case, this state is ridiculously hostile towards teachers, and I was pursuing leaving the state…now I’m considering leaving the profession altogether.
Unfortunately many teachers have already spent a small fortune on there education to already receive low wages for there work but to have this is just a travesty. The move will just make it a political hiring structure and the students WILL suffer. If it was me there’s NO WAY in H*** I would become a teacher with no reward but dept and insecurity.