North Carolina Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood ruled that the state’s effort to eliminate teacher tenure was unconstitutional.
“Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood ruled this morning that the state’s repeal of teacher tenure, also known as “career status,” and the 25 percent contract system that would award temporary employment contracts to those who relinquish their tenure, are both unconstitutional. Hobgood issued a permanent injunction.
“It’s a great day for teachers in North Carolina,” said Rodney Ellis, President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, following Hobgood’s ruling.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
It’s good, but it still leaves those in the four year process of attaining tenure in limbo. Either way, we have had a monumental waste of time with all of this legislation.
Phil Berger just won’t let go of the ALEC line of thinking.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/16/3865538/nc-judge-set-to-rule-on-teacher.html?sp=/99/102/
It ain’t over yet. Happy for the moment, but ALEC guys are not giving up that easily.
I can’t help but rant. . .how much longer are we going to go through these cuts and slashes to what many well educated and thinking people believe are good for the state? They cut, we protest, it goes to court, judges rule in favor of the good of the state, the legislature says they will appeal. . .etc. etc. third verse same as the first. For example:
Citing continued budget issues, the NC Legislature cut all funding for Governor’s School in June, 2011.[8] With this decision, the Governor’s School of North Carolina was effectively ended, though the legislature did allow the Department of Public Instruction to keep the School open as a tuition-funded program. DPI made it clear from the beginning that they would not hold GS if it had to be supported by full tuition of about $2100 per student.
This prompted the Governor’s School Foundation into action to save the 2012 program and give alumni time to show legislators the economic power of Governor’s School and its positive impact on the state’s economy. Working with the Governor’s School Alumni Association, and with support from the Department of Public Instruction and the NC State Board of Education, the GS Foundation was able to raise $700,000 in less than six months – enough to keep both Governor’s School campuses open for the 2012 session with 550 students, although with a reduction in duration to five weeks.[9] At the same time, an outpouring of support from alumni and business leaders across the state urged legislators to restore GS funding.[10] In June 2012, the Legislature voted to restore sufficient funding to keep both GS campuses open with 600 students for a five-week session.[11]
On July 14, 2012, the NC Governor’s School Alumni Association held a celebration of 50 years of Governor’s School, the culmination of the effort to save the program.[12]
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It all seems like a huge waste of time and resources OR we have to simply view it as an intellectual battle of wills in action. That is, again. . .whose value system is going to prevail in our state of NC? Where does austerity belong? Where does it not?
And the best question yet. . .(no pun intended per my name): when is ALEC going to go away?
perhaps this is another avenue for profits…via the lawyers?
Donna–
I happen to be married to a lawyer and I think we need more lawyers involved in the public education issues, not fewer. I don’t see anything here as profits for lawyers. I see it as compensation for work.
Lawyers flying to Asia to solicit parents whose children were missing on a submerged fairy might be looking for profit gain. . . but I think we need more lawyers on this one, not fewer.
ferry, rather. Not fairy.
Good grief, I need some coffee.
Although “waste of time” implies that nothing has come of the legislation. Eliminating tenure on a going-forward basis is a pretty big win for tenure opponents.
except it was turned over (per this article) and has only caused confusion, protests, etc. up until the judge’s ruling
until the appeal of course, which puts it back in limbo
My point was I don’t think the portion of the law that eliminates tenure for future teachers was overturned.
I agree.
People like me, without it because I stopped to have a baby, will, as things are now, not ever acquire it. I guess.
I don’t know. I don’t know if I even care right now, it’s all so confusing. I just want to do a good job at my school for the 685 students I teach music to each week. My VAM score will come from a school-wide average. I got nothin. So, I’ll just try to be the best music teacher I can and hope for the best.
“Tenure” is the wrong term to use for public school teachers. The correct term is due process rights.
Tenure means giving someone a permanent post (job), especially as a teacher or professor
Due Process means the the government may not deprive citizens of “life, liberty or property” without due process of law. Under due process, the the rule of a legal case must be done in a way that protects the rights of the people involved.
It doesn’t matter what word is used by a judge or law, public school teachers do not have a permanent job for life. Just like anyone else, they can lose their jobs but cause must be proven in court.
In fact, school districts in most states may dismiss tenured teachers only by a showing of cause (under due process), after following such procedural requirements as providing notice to the teacher, specifying the charges against the teacher, and providing the teacher with a meaningful hearing.
Public school teachers do not have a permanent job. They may lose their job as a teacher by being found guilty of:
Immoral conduct
Incompetence
Neglect of duty
Substantial noncompliance with school laws
Conviction of a crime
Insubordination
Fraud or misrepresentation
They don’t have to be “guilty” of anything to be sacked. A principal can literally make up charges. That’s because administrative law isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
All teachers have is the right to a hearing, the same as other public employees. To single them out and deny them the same protections is illegal and unconstitutional.
Furthermore, principals don’t even have to follow procedures. That’s because the hearings are easily rigged by school districts.
What school districts LOVE to do is starve teachers into unpaid leave and therefore force them take “settlements” which are nothing more than severance agreements. That way districts don’t have to go through the hearings or be sued in civil court.
Very, very few teachers go through the “dismissal” proceedings.
Finally, just so you know, administrative hearings are not “courts.” The law is repeatedly flouted by school districts in those hearings, and criminal charges cannot be brought against administrators/attorneys for perjury, forgery, suborning perjury, bribery, witness tampering, the whole nine yards. There is also almost no right to appeal a termination that is upheld by a hearing officer/panel.
True, unscrupulous administrators can make up any claim but at least in the states where due process exists, the teacher can go to court to clear their name.
There is another strike against teachers: double jeopardy.
I leaned long ago that public school teachers are the only profession that can be tried for the same alleged crime twice. For instance, the accused teacher wins in court through due process but the state’s teacher credentialing agency can still pull that teachers certificate to teach.
What teachers are routinely accused of don’t rise up to the level of criminal behavior. Not kissing a principal’s royal behind or refusing to change grades is enough to kill a teacher’s career.
We are talking a completely different legal process here. This isn’t a criminal court; it is an administrative hearing or an arbitration hearing.
“Double jeopardy” applies only to criminal law. It has nothing to do with administrative law.
Credentialing agencies also operate under a form of administrative law.
Re civil court: Try finding a lawyer that will take your case, no matter how good. It’s almost impossible. Furthermore, many will not take your case unless you have filed with EEOC. My illustrious “union” and its attorney said nothing to me about filing a claim, which would have been slam-dunk in my favor. Because I wasn’t told, I missed that statute of limitations.
I think teachers should lose their jobs for these reasons. Teachers, who teach our children all day long should lose their jobs more than practically anyone? Why shouldn’t they especially if they have been a teacher for more than 4 years, they should know better.
To reply to Susan, why do you feel teachers should be treated any differently than other occupations?? I just don’t get your thinking, I am guessing you are a teacher. I am sure you know someone in the private sector if who have lost their job, do you honestly think that all of these people have been treated fairly. Sometimes people are let go for the exact same reasons you listed above minus not changing a grade. Many people with integrity lose their jobs….life is not fair. Can’t you think of some teachers who have no business teaching anymore…..I’m sure you can, someone immediately popped in your head, how would you like it if your child was taught by them and earning a good salary at the same time. The children are what’s most important not the teachers, sorry but that’s a fact.
When do “we the People” roll back raises for Congress? When do “we the People” sanction and remove the congressmen and senators for their poor performance, and for voting against the will of the people while wrapping their laws in spin and rhetoric? When will we put age limits on them, like 70 and its time to retire. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t trust my 70 year old mother to drive. Maybe its time for some lawsuits against politicians so we can oust them for the atrocity they have, in the name of excellence, brought down on our students.
As I “crawl” closer to that landmark age of 70, I find myself amused by the confident assertions on the incompetence of people who pass your magic milestone. I hope your mother’s bad driving is a long standing issue rather than a recent development and a symptom of health problems, but bad driving is not only the province of teenagers and elders. Nor is it necessarily a sign of mental decline. Let me know when the country decides to make sure its older citizens do not spend their “declining years” in straitened circumstances. Recent legislation seems to be toward moving the retirement age back, so we are less of a burden on you young folks. Ageism is putting the over 50 crowd into a pool of hard to employ workers despite all our fine sounding anti-age discrimination legislation. As to your comments about legislators, stupidity is not an aging issue. The youngsters have certainly demonstrated that.
Sorry for the tirade. You touched a nerve.
This is be a holdover from decades ago, when most people who were 70 were definitely “old.” It’s a cliche, but it seems true that 80 is the new 70. I hope I can get my act together and make it there myself.
I also do not like choosing ages for when people should retire since each person is different. My 78 year old mother can still beat most people in tennis and she can lift more weights than I can. She only stopped teaching college calculus this year. But this was interesting. NC magistrates are suing for a raise. I think teachers and professors should try this too! http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/15/3864633/nc-magistrates-sue-the-state-claiming.html
Watching the report on a Raleigh station it appeared to me that those of us who had career status when the legislation was enacted will retain our “status”. Provisional teachers (currently employed) will not receive the same so called protection if I understand the ruling. A few years down the road and those who are career status teachers will retire and anyone coming in the door won’t have the opportunity. Another great enticement for new teachers to come to North Carolina.
If I misunderstand the situation please feel free to set me straight;^)
I’m not sure about the provisional teachers, but that makes perfect sense for future teachers. The court’s ruling wouldn’t seem to impact that part of the statute. I’m not sure that the plaintiff even bothered to challenge that part of the statute.
So this is like a big win for current teachers. But going forward, tenure is dead in NC, by my reckoning.
“FLERP!, there is no tenure for K-12. There is due process for some, not all teachers.
Whatever you want to call it, it’s dead in North Carolina.
It isn’t just *North Carolina that’s stripping Constitutional due process rights from teachers who are already the only profession in the country that may be tried for the same crime twice—called Double Jeopardy. A teacher may be found innocent in a court of law and then found guilty from the credentialing commission.
Other states that are changing, limiting or stripping teachers of due process rights are:
*Louisiana (GOP in every sector of state government)
South Dakota (GOP in every sector of state government)
Idaho (GOP in every sector of state government but voters repealed this reform in a referendum)
Colorado (State government mostly Democrats with the exception of Secretary of State, Attorney General and Treasurer)
New Mexico (GOP Governor and Lieutenant Governor but State House and Senate majority is democratic)
* Florida (GOP in every sector of state government)
* Arizona (GOP in every sector of state government)
* Virgina (State government is pretty much split between GOP and Democrats)
Connecticut (Democratic majority in every sector of state government by a wide margin)
* These states have also never approved the Equal Rights Amendment.
I take your point that this seems wrong, but that’s not Double Jeopardy, because it’s not in the criminal context.
No, it isn’t dead in NC or anywhere else. It is ILLEGAL to provide due process protections for other public employees and not for teachers.
As I’ve said before, your devil’s advocate act is wearing very thin around here.
Susan, this isn’t an act. You could benefit from a healthier respect for the amount of things you don’t know about the Constitution. (We all could, including me.) I’ve made some attempts to explain this stuff to you before, but you don’t listen.
Susan–
FLERP is a lawyer. He raises valid points, always.
I listen to what he says more than I do what many other regulars write because what he says is more likely to come to pass than the adamant viewpoints of others. Due process is a two way street. It is just that, a process. I see the point you are making, but it has to be proven in a court room to a judge. That doesn’t happen by regulars on a blog shouting out wishful thinking.
Whatever the legislature may pass, they can always be voted out of office. And laws change.
Dr. Ravitch, that is the point of *hope* for those of us in NC, but the economic downturn has created a very mind-boggling electorate.
When I read it- it appears that the judge made sure career status could not be taken away since it was considered “property” and citizens have “property rights”. It also stopped the silly $500 merit pay for the top 25% since no clear criteria was given. But you are correct that it does not mean career status has to be given to any teachers who do not already have career staus.
Thank you all. I am enlightened, informed, validated, and even more disgusted with our elected legislators who clearly are not “representatives”.
Oh, they are representatives. Of ALEC.
You are correct.
And that means people like me who taught in other states, and then moved into NC, taught two years, stopped to have a baby and then came back (so read: 10 years of public school experience, but because four have not been consecutively in NC yet, I am probationary and yes that means my status is in limbo and I might never be career status).
Diane, this was a crazy few days in NC. One judge is allowing vouchers to proceed and money to be dispersed but still says the law will probably be stopped for being unconstitutional. Then this judge stopped the merit pay and loss of career status. There was a large education rally on Wednesday for the opening of the legislature and smaller rally’s all over the state. I met several of the pro-public school candidates for the eastern end of the state and was happy to see they were anti- charter schools and supportive of teachers. Then the anti common core legislation was introduced- not sure what to make of it since it does not seem to get rid of the tests which I believe are the real damage dealers. Also not sure who gets to make the new standards. I am not good at reading such legalese if any of you smart people want to interpret this for me. http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/HTML/H1061v1.html
There have been many more articles about the problems of Read to Achieve (failing 3rd grade students who do not pass a reading test) and the web was awash with how NC is one of the most gerrymandered states and has made the largest steps backwards in re-segregating our schools (Brown Vs. Board articles). For every step forward there are steps backwards or sideways- but I do think all of our efforts statewide are starting to pay off. This was an exhausting week but you have had it worse! I hope you are healing well.
It could be:
1. a plan all along after RttT had expired?
2. a right wing driven act, that happens to appeal to many others as well
3. a way to disassociate from the Common Core, because of its bad press
I will say this: many, many teachers I know say that NC’s standards were not really that different from Common Core anyway AND that our testing has always been rampant.
I will do some research and get back to you.
I am going to try and say this without meaning to offend any teachers….I really don’t understand why teachers should have tenure that protects there jobs. I understand the reason for it but employees in the private sector risk working for an unfair boss and being let go all the time. Many of these people who have been laid off have worked for the companies for 20, 30 years who have been let go, for many reasons. I believe that teachers above all should be held accountable for their “work” and tenure should less importance in determining the length of their employment. Please explain to me what I am missing. Furthermore, just as many other jobs, employees are rewarded for exceptional work while those who are slacking might not get a raise. I truly believe that if teachers were held more accountable, our schools would improve. If more money went towards the schools themselves instead of the too many teachers’ unions (who often fund politicians etc.) teachers’s salaries could increase and keep those fantastic teachers out there who deserve more money.
Marjorie, I shall try to answer your questions.
First, teachers do not have tenure. They have, in a few states, due process, meaning that they cannot be fired without just cause being presented at a hearing. MANY public employees–firefighters, police, etc.–have something equivalent to this, so it’s incorrect to think that this is something that only teachers have.
Second, due process (which is not real tenure) protects people from unfair labor practices. Should a principal be able to fire a veteran teacher with three kids of her own to feed because he wants to give that job to his mistress or to his golfing buddy’s idiot son? Should a teacher be fired because one parent happened to object to the fact that some book a kid checked out of the library had James Thurber’s short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” in it, and that story contained the word “damn”? Well, in places where there is no due process, teachers do get fired for that kind of thing, and the damage done is enormous.
Third, due process provides a tiny, tiny bit of protection of something very, very important–academic freedom. Due process ensures that if some crazy person tries to get a teacher fired because he or she disagrees with something that the teacher taught, the teacher will have an opportunity to defend him or herself. Let me give you a case in point. Recently, a teacher in Los Angeles was put on administrative leave because he was accused of allowing a student to construct a weapon. Well, what the student constructed was a device that used compressed air to launch a harmless object. In the school, the device was not connected to a source of air pressure and so could not have been fired. And the device was quite similar to, but more powerful than, one made by a student and demonstrated by President Obama at a White House Science Fair in 2012–a device that lobbed a marshmallow. This is a project that students have been doing for decades–it’s a cliche, like the battery made of lemons or the volcano made with water and baking soda. The teacher was able to defend himself and go back to work, and that’s because there was this tiny bit of due process than allowed for such a defense. It would have been a terrible miscarriage of justice and a chilling limitation on freedom of thought and action in the study of science in school to have fired this teacher. Don’t you think?
correction: I meant to say, “less powerful than,” of course
Now, that last story gets a little more interesting. It turns out that the science teacher in question was a union rep and involved in negotiations over benefits. So, the charge was probably trumped up. Due process provides tiny bit of protection for teachers, fire fighters, police, and other workers, against such trumped up charges.
If you take away due process, you give administrators ABSOLUTE POWER. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s not a question whether such power will be abused but how frequently it will be. Do you want the people who are teaching your children to live in fear that at any moment, on a whim, they could be jobless? Do you really want to show your children’s teachers that little respect and courtesy and decency?
Politicians love giving pat answers and fabricating boogie-men on politically-biased ‘news’ channels (like Crox news). For decades now, the public has heard (over and over) our fearless political leaders clucking about how horrible our education system is. Our fearless leaders freeze teacher pay so they can boast about cutting needless waste out of the right side of their mouth. At the same time, they boast out of the left side of their mouth that they are “pro-education”. Political sleaze and hypocrisy is ingrained in North Carolina’s culture, but if voters in North Carolina (formerly the ‘education state’) think paying teachers more than ditch-diggers is needless waste, what are the voters kids going to become? The factory jobs are gone folks. The mentality that enslaved people to assembly line work needs to go too. Throw the hypocritical bums out of office. They aren’t serving the needs of ordinary people.