This Spring, more than 30,000 California teachers received layoff notices not because of their poor performance, but because they were the last ones hired.  An outdated law prevents California schools from looking at any factors other than longevity with the district.

Teacher quality is completely ignored.  Winning a “Teacher of the Year” award can’t help you if you have only been with the school for a year when the cuts start coming.

California’s budget crisis continues and so do the layoffs.  Other States, including neighboring Arizona, have recently switched to a quality based layoff system that has a much broader base of support amongst teachers.  Ted Mitchell of the State Board of Education, chair of the Los Angeles Teacher Effectiveness Task Force,  is pleading with the State of California to embrace the quality based layoff system which in the end may lead to a successful bid for federal funding under Race to the Top.

“The Race to the Top Fund provides competitive grants to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform.”