NC Tenure Abolishment: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

by mistermchem

First, have a read about the abolishment of tenure in North Carolina.

The Good

Teachers, let’s be real. Tenure is a ridiculous benefit to our job that in all honesty does not incentivize us to strive towards excellence. Let’s all admit it together. Almost every compensation package in the world has a structure that rewards success, except ours. If we want to be taken seriously, this benefit needs to go, and it needs to be replaced by something fair in its stead. Figuring out what that is will be a long struggle, but an important one for our profession. The first step, however, is to accept the fact that tenure will be phased out over the course of the next many years, and that this, while being a scary thing for everyone personally, is actually a good thing professionally.

The Bad

The replacement implemented by this plan in North Carolina is absolutely ridiculous. I’ve spoken to a lot of people about the abolishment of tenure, saying that if the country wants to abolish tenure, that’s fine. But then they have to pay teachers like they pay everyone else. Teacher entry pay is fine, but our ceiling is severely restricted. You can’t become rich on a teacher salary. In exchange for that possibility, many people willingly trade it for job security. Without job security or the possibility to accumulate wealth, nobody in their right mind would want to become a teacher. The goal of the abolishment of tenure is to attract top end talent to the profession and reward teachers who strive for excellence, not to drive people away. This plan will achieve the latter.

The replacement in North Carolina is an exchange of four year contracts worth, *gasp*, $5,000 in additional pay. I’m not a mathematician, but that amounts to a little less than an extra pay check each year.  Forgive me if I’m a NC teacher and I’m not exactly jumping for joy. This is an unacceptable replacement.  I like the idea of awarding contracts of varied lengths to teachers, and I think if tenure is going to be removed, this is a good place to start. $5,000 additional pay over four years, however, is basically insulting. They need to rethink that one.

The Ugly

The uproar here is going to grow, and it’s already begun. Some districts in NC are suing the state for forcing them to implement this requirement, and I can’t say I blame them. This frequently happens every time a new set of standardized exams are rolled out *cough* Common Core *cough*, but this is different. Nobody’s wallets are influenced by common core standards, and teachers’ wallets are already restricted. This is likely to get worse before it gets better. It’s a progressive move, but the exchange proposed here is an insult to teachers, and it does not accomplish the goal of abolishing tenure, it accomplishes the opposite.

Here’s a different idea: play on the teacher retirement plans. We’ll concede tenure, but match our retirement plan contributions. Allow us to contribute more into the pension fund in exchange for a greater payout on retirement. Many companies match percentages of employee contributions to 401(k)s, why not schools? This would allow teachers a greater shot at wealth accumulation they are trading by not joining a different profession, and it would spread out the payroll costs since it wouldn’t require up front investment from the schools. Also, teachers fear that schools will fire them right before retirement so they don’t get their pension, which is a valid concern, since it happens. We need to punish this if it happens, because it’s not right. A teacher’s reward for decades of service should not be unemployment. Perhaps you structure the deals so that there’s a minimum contract term for teachers over certain ages with certain amounts of experience.

These are just some thoughts on what is an imminent change in our profession. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out, as demonstrated in North Carolina which is proposing an unacceptable solution, but they must be worked out. Tenure hardly makes sense from a performance-based perspective, and while it’s easy to be concerned because we’re comfortable with it, it’s hard to declare it beneficial for the teaching profession.