On Wednesday, March 23, a bill was introduced in the Missouri Senate to eliminate teacher tenure. This move to eliminate tenure in Missouri follows a previous bill introduced in early February by Rep. Dieckhaus in the Missouri House of Representatives.
“I drafted this bill because permanent contract status is a hindrance to getting rid of poor performing teachers,” Dieckhaus said. “I think multi-year contracts amount to more accountability, which is a positive thing for students.”
If passed, HB 628 will replace tenure with one, two or three year contracts depending on the preference of local school boards. The bill will not only preclude future teachers from acquiring tenure, but will strip away privileges for currently tenured teachers.
“I actually began working on this bill last year, and tried to reach out to various education group and committees,” Dieckhaus said. “I did not receive a lot of input; in fact, the only response I got back was from the Missouri School Board Association.”
Dieckhaus said HB 628 has received considerable support from teachers with about 40 percent of teacher contacts he has spoken with supporting the elimination of tenure.
“A good teacher shouldn’t need to worry about not having tenure anymore,” Dieckhaus said. “And if tenure influenced someone to take a job, they were basing their decision off the wrong reasons.”
Lee Mitchell, head librarian, is the NEA representative from MHS, acting as a liason between teachers at MHS and the RNEA Executive Board. Mitchell said she does not think all teachers support the abolition of tenure.
“I don’t think the tenure bill is the answer to the issues that people seem to have with public education,” Mitchell said. “If passed this bill would affect MHS by not providing teachers with due process.”
HB 628 has been amended from its original version due to discussions with teachers and complaints.
“I have read literally thousands of emails and spoken with hundreds of people about this issue. I have heard their concerns and have, in return, made changes to the bill to help incorporate different ideas I have heard,” Dieckhaus said.
Dieckhaus said teachers were most opposed to the classification of teachers into tiers, a provision that is removed from the current bill. He does expect the bill to pass or there to be changes in teacher tenure within the next two years.
Drew Roley, junior, does support teacher tenure but said that there can be drawbacks as well.
“Teacher tenure allows for there to be job security for teachers,” Roley said. “I think it is important for teachers to not always feel as if they might be fired due to poor performing students on standardized tests.”
Roley said teachers may slip into laziness as a result of feeling too secure in their job if they have tenure.
“It is important to ensure the quality of our education,” Roley said, “To do that bad teachers need to be eliminated, and we shouldn’t have bad teachers on tenure.”
However, Dieckhuas said teachers should not be awarded special job privileges.
“There are no other jobs in this state that are offered “lifetime contracts,” which is what tenure is defined as in statute. The rest of the working people in Missouri deal with every day the chance of being released from their job.”