It is crunch time for an important teacher tenure reform bill in the state legislature, and we’re troubled by the reception the bill has gotten thus far in the state House.
Rep. Michael Merrifield, House Education Committee chair, pushed back a hearing on Senate Bill 191 until Thursday. By doing so, state legislators are dangerously close to running out of time to pass the bill before the session ends next Wednesday, which may be part of the strategy.
Opponents, mainly leaders of Colorado’s largest teachers union, are doing everything they can to kill the bill.
Democratic leaders cannot let that happen.
Senate Bill 191 would restructure the way teachers get and keep tenure, and would put an emphasis on student achievement. It is good education policy that would give teachers incentives to make sure that every child in their class progresses academically.
Democratic leaders must step up and move the measure forward.
Gov. Bill Ritter, whose endorsement of the bill came late and only after certain amendments were made to the bill, needs to be out in front, mustering support for the measure. He has been an advocate for reforming K-12 education, and passage of this bill can be a signature part of his legacy. Likewise, its failure could similarly tarnish his efforts.
House Speaker Terrance Carroll must make sure this bill gets through the House Education Committee without major amendments that will eviscerate its effectiveness. It was Carroll who appointed Merrifield, who once wrote there was a “special place in hell” for backers of charter schools and other reforms, as chair of the committee.
Watering down the measure and passing a do-nothing bill will not fool anyone. SB 191 already has been amended significantly in the Senate to please the teachers union. But the only changes they want are those that gut the measure.
The Colorado Education Association will engage allies to attempt to remove entire sections of the bill, such as the parts that address how tenure is awarded, maintained and lost, to make it a shell of what it once was.
There also will be attempts to stall the bill so work cannot be finished before the legislature adjourns.
Those efforts must be rebuffed. Over the next several days, there will be no substitute for clear-eyed leadership in moving the bill forward.
The time has come to take on some of the very difficult problems in education. The achievement gap between white, middle-class students and low-income students of color must be addressed in a meaningful way.
Having effective teachers and principals in schools is the single most important factor in moving the needle on this troubling problem. It is not the only way to improve education, but its importance cannot be ignored.
This bill addresses teacher effectiveness in a thoughtful way. It would tie half of a teacher’s evaluation to students’ academic progress.
It would be good for Colorado public education, and it very well could put the state in a position to win a $175 million Race to the Top grant from the federal government.
We hope that in the final days of the legislative session, Colorado’s political leaders will step up, stare down the teachers union and its apologists, and do what is right for the state’s children.
