The Pennsylvania House and the Pennsylvania Senate have competing bills to allow school districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons, an action the traditionally union-dominated state has long prohibited.
House Bill 855, introduced March 1 by Scott Boyd (R- 43) would allow the furlough decision to be guided by several factors including the teacher’s specialization and performance evaluations.
The good ol’ boys in the Senate Appropriations Committee, however, did not think of the children or the taxpayer but listened to the lobbyists and cut out all factors but seniority — with one minor caveat — from Senate Bill 612, which was introduced Feb. 18 by Mike Folmer (R-48).
The caveat is that tenured teachers who have been placed on an improvement plan due to poor evaluations would not be protected by seniority. This would only apply to very few teachers who are the worst of the worst and one wonders why such teachers are protected from anything now.
Think of the children.
SB 612 was referred to the House Education Committee, May 11, where HB 855 has remained stuck since it was introduced.
The good ol’ boys in the Senate Appropriations Committee, however, did not think of the children or the taxpayer but listened to the lobbyists and cut out all factors but seniority.
Sounds like these good ol’ boys have been listening to good ol’ union leader Albert Shanker who said, “When school children start paying dues, that when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.
Shanker was speaking on behalf of public school teachers everywhere.