Behind the Headline: Teacher Seniority Rules Challenged

By Education Next 02/19/2010

On Top of the News
Teacher Seniority Rules Challenged
02/19/10 | The Wall Street Journal

Behind the Headline
A Recession for Schools
Winter 2010 | Education Next

As school districts prepare to lay off teachers due to funding shortfalls, government officials are starting to push back against seniority policies that force districts to make decisions about layoffs without regard to the effectiveness of the teachers involved. In an article that appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of Ed Next, Paul Peterson noted that recessions can be a good opportunity to make policy changes that are otherwise politically impossible. “Recessions cause lots of harm, but they also eliminate bloat, fat, even fraud.”