Without the recourse to the extensive “due process” job protections in CRS 22-63-301 et seq, consistently ineffective teachers still will have access to the same legal avenues any one of us have in our jobs — including federal anti-discrimination laws. But if a teacher doesn’t fail to meet effectiveness for two years in a row, there’s no worry.

Is this primarily about job protection, or about ensuring students have access to high-quality teachers?

ML and Terra, How are you related? Or are you the same person?

1. SB 191 addresses principal effectiveness as well as teacher effectiveness. Think about it this way: Teachers are to be evaluated on more transparent and objective data than currently available now. Principals are to be evaluated 50% on the effectiveness of their teachers in increasing student academic growth. This makes teachers in general less vulnerable to indiscriminate acts of unfairness by administrators, but makes ineffective teachers more likely to get extra help or not get their contract renewed.

2. Re funding, the bill will be implemented over the next 5 years, allowing time for funding issues to be resolved. For one possibility SB 191 will make Colorado much more likely to obtain Race to the Top funds. If lack of funding were really an issue, superintendents would not support it. But they do. That’s because they know that this bill will have positive, cost-saving impacts on attrition.

3. CEA doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The bill is well-written and thoughtful. Numerous amendments have been made to alleviate concerns about the timetable for implementation, and to clarify & address concerns about student growth measures. CEA leaders say they support reforms to improve quality teaching, just not SB 191. With all the clout and influence the organization has, which bills have they sponsored or lobbied for to improve quality teaching in the last decade?

In that light, here are some questions for you:
- Would you cut 6% from the city parks department budget, then ask them to evaluate their employees on how well they’re doing their jobs?
- Would you expect a person who works with children to prove they do their job reasonably well before giving them a special job protection that makes any effort to dismiss them extremely difficult, costly and time-consuming?
- Would you motivate a judge to act fairly by more closely linking his own professional performance to how he judges cases based on an objective and transparent system of data?

Of course you wouldn’t, you’re a sensible person.

Then why would you make decisions like that about education? If we do not stop SB 191 we will be making bad decisions about the future of education in Colorado.

SB 191 in its present form will cause unnecessary financial strain to already struggling school districts, it will unfairly remove quality educators from their chosen profession, and it will give administrators an unjust advantage in teacher evaluations.

Is it shameful to want fairness for all professionals? Teachers do not want to work with others that are ineffective, but what about ineffective administration?? Who protects good teachers from them? Have you ever had or know someone who had a boss who didn’t do a good job and you spoke up against a decision they made? This bill would allow good, quality teachers to loose their job because the administrator didn’t “like” them. There needs to be reform for evaluation that would make it easier to get rid of ineffective teachers, but this bill DOES NOT do that. Think about it?? CEA doesn’t want bad teachers, they want a well-written bill that has some thought behind it. If this passes, all the quality teachers will go somewhere else where they won’t be afraid to speak up against wrong decisions!!

Also, there is NO funding. Eventually the state will have to raise taxes to fund a mandate like this. The bill will require all districts to hire more people to redo the evaluation system, which will take away funding from the kids. Teachers will not seek out additional training and degrees for fear of “making too much money” and be fired because of budgets. I don’t want my child to be taught be brand new teachers every year who is under trained and inexperienced. Do you?