Volume 21, No. 22 March 16, 2012 Bill Allowing Unlicensed Teachers Passes Senate Committee TEA Views as Regressing on Teacher Quality, Accountability Legislation passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, March 14 which would allow “persons, including retired persons with expertise either from professional experience or academic training” to be hired as teachers or “directly enter the classroom with no requirement that the person complete any course in pedagogy at the time of entrance into the classroom or later.” This outrageous bill, HB 3059/SB 2298, is sponsored in the House by Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) and Sen. Jim Summerville (R-Dickson). TEA views this legislation as an attack on the professionalism of teaching and testified against the bill in both the House Education Subcommittee and the Senate Education Committee. The House Subcommittee has postponed action on the bill until Wednesday, March 21. Incredibility, the Senate Education Committee – which has shown over the past year that no attack on public education is too extreme – passed the bill by a vote of 6-3. The Senators voting “NO” (supporting TEA’s position) were Senators Andy Berke (D- Chattanooga), Charlotte Burks (D-Monterey), and Reginald Tate (D-Memphis). The Senators voting “YES” (opposing TEA’s position) were Senators Stacey Campfield (R- Knoxville), Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City), Dolores Gresham (R-Somervile), Brian Kelsey (R-Collierville), Jim Summerville (R-Dickson), and Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville). A critical vote on this bill is likely to take place on Wednesday, March 21 in the House Education Subcommittee. TEA members are strongly urged to contact subcommittee members and ask that they vote “NO” on HB 3059. Messages to legislators might include the following: . This bill is an attack on the professionalism of teaching. This bill lowers standards when teacher quality should be a major concern. This bill will discourage many from entering into teacher training programs. Below is contact information for the House Education Subcommittee. Contacts should be made immediately! Phone Area Code E-Mail Address Member (615) Chairman Joey Hensley (R-70) 741-7476 [email protected] Vice Chairman, Joe Carr (R-48) 741-2180 [email protected] Harry Brooks (R-19) 741-6879 [email protected] Kevin Brooks (R-24) 741-1350 [email protected] John J., Deberry, Jr. (D-90) 741-2239 [email protected] Lois M. DeBerry (D-91) 741-3830 [email protected] Bill Dunn (R-16) 741-1721 [email protected] TEA Legislative Report Page 98 Phone Area Code E-Mail Address Member (615) Craig Fitzhugh (D-82) 741-2134 [email protected] Ron Lollar (R-99) 741-7084 [email protected] Debra Young Maggart (R-45) 741-3893 [email protected] Richard Montgomery, (R-12) 741-5981 [email protected] Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh 741-3774 [email protected] (D-81) Joe Pitts (D-67) 741-2043 [email protected] Printed/Mailed TEA Legislative Reports Will be Discontinued Cost-Saving Measure Will Not Result in Any Less Information Due to the ever increasing costs of printing and postage, this will be the last TEA Legislative Report which will be printed and mailed to members. This Report will continue to be produced weekly as long as the General Assembly is considering key votes on education bills, but it will be an electronic version which can be accessed in several ways. It will be available on the TEA website. To view the Report go to www.teateachers.org, click on the Issues and Advocacy and Legislative Report buttons. TEA members can also get this Report sent automatically to their “in box” by signing up to receive it electronically. To sign up for this Members Only service, send an email to [email protected]. You will need to include your first and last name, your local association, and your PERSONAL email address. Please encourage your local members to sign up for the electronic distribution list. They will not only receive this Report regularly, but will also get periodic legislative alerts and updates on key issues. The Government Relations Division wants to emphasize to members that transitioning to an electronic delivery system will in no way diminish the information our members receive on legislative issues! Bill Would Restore Rights to Non-Licensed School Personnel 2011 Legislative Changes Made ESPs “At Will” Employees As we all know, the 2011 General Assembly was an outright assault on the rights of education employees. While licensed personnel saw the repeal of professional negotiations and the weakening of tenure rights, non-licensed education employees – the educational support personnel (ESPs) so crucial to making schools work – saw their employment rights wiped out by a bill making them “at will” employees who could be fired for any reason with no real recourse. Legislation is pending in both the Senate and House Education Committees which would restore the rights of Education Support Personnel. HB 3831/SB 3522 would provide that after completing a two-year probationary period, a director of schools would be required to show cause for dismissal and the employer would have to be given written notice of charges and the opportunity for a hearing. This important bill is sponsored in the House by Rep. Lois DeBerry (D-Memphis) and in the Senate by Sen. Reginald Tate (R-Memphis). Key votes on this bill will be taken very soon and contacts with the House Education Subcommittee and Senate Education Committee should be made immediately. Contact information for the House Subcommittee is contained in this Report. Contact information for the Senate Education Committee is listed below. TEA Legislative Report Page 99 Senate Education Committee Phone Member Office Area Code E-Mail Address (Party & District) (615) Chairman Dolores Gresham (R-26) 308 WMB 741-2368 [email protected] Vice Chairman Reginald Tate (D-33) 320 WMB 741-2509 [email protected] Secretary Brian K. Kelsey (R-31) 9 LP 741-3036 [email protected] Andy Berke(D-10) 310 WMB 741-6682 [email protected] Charlotte Burks (D-15) 304 WMB 741-3978 [email protected] Stacey Campfield (R-7) 4 LP 741-1766 [email protected] Rusty Crowe (R-3) 8 LP 741-2468 [email protected] Jim Summerville(R-25) 302 WMB 741-4499 [email protected] Jim Tracy(R-16) 2 LP 741-1066 [email protected] TEA Wants Teachers “Meeting Expectations” Eligible for Tenure Proposal Opposed by Governor and Commissioner of Education TEA proposed legislation which would make teachers who are rated as “meeting expectations” (those scoring a “3” on the numerical scale) eligible to be recommended for tenure is pending in the House Education Subcommittee. HB 2303/SB 2639 is sponsored by House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) and Senator Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga). Under present law, any teacher who meets all of the following requirements is eligible for tenure: . Has a degree from an approved four-year college or any career and technical teacher who has the equivalent amount of training established and licensed by the state board of education; . Holds a valid teacher license, issued by the state board of education, based on training covering the subjects or grades taught; . Has completed a probationary period of five school years or not less than 45 months within the last seven-year period, the last two years being employed in a regular teaching position rather than an interim teaching position; . Has received evaluations demonstrating an overall performance effectiveness level of "above expectations" or "significantly above expectations" as provided in the evaluation guidelines, during the last two years of the probationary period; and . Is reemployed by the director of schools for service after the probationary period. This legislation would add a third category of “meets expectations” to the list in bullet number four above. It is estimated that approximately half of Tennessee’s teachers will be in the mid- group rating and some state evaluators have referred to “3” ranked teachers as “rock solid.” While the change advocated in HB 2303 is supported by many individual legislators, the Haslam administration and the Department of Education adamantly oppose any change to the tenure “reform” passed in 2011. Due to the Governor’s opposition, passage of this important bill will be very difficult in the current legislative environment. HB 2303 is scheduled for a vote in the House Education Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 21. Contact information for the subcommittee is contained in this Report. Due to the short timeframe, contacts should be made immediately! TEA Legislative Report Page 100 Only YOU Can Change this Hostile Legislative Climate! After the vicious 2011 attack on teachers, education support personnel, and the Tennessee Education Association, one would think that the legislature would “lighten up” in its negative approach. The 2012 session has given the General Assembly every opportunity to revisit the issues of teacher negotiations and tenure, and to modify an obviously broken teacher evaluation system. But, instead of trying to forge a more positive climate, the legislature continues to pass bills which would abolish teacher licensure and move toward privatization through virtual and charter schools. Anti-teacher groups like Michelle Rhee’s “StudentsFirst” -- which gave thousands of dollars in political contributions to legislators just prior to the beginning of the 2012 legislative session -- continue to push a corporate education “reform” agenda which puts company profits “first” instead of students.