The Governors Education Summit featured a variety of speakers from across the country with plenty of ideas on reform. As the speakers brought their experiences to the attendees, it became clear that they may not have had a great grasp on some of the details of public education in Iowa. In particular, several speakers at the Summit kept making reference to eliminating or modifying teacher tenure. It occurred to me that it may be worth pointing out that there is no such thing as teacher tenure in Iowa. From what I could gather listening to these speakers from outside Iowa, I think they assumed that in Iowa a teacher essentially has a job for life and cannot be removed from that job for poor performance. It has been my experience that many Iowans may share in this misperception. The fact is that any poor performing teacher can lose their job in Iowa and no union has the ability to stop a termination. Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code governs collective bargaining between public employers and employees. It lists subjects that must be bargained when developing a contract. There has never been any right for a union to bargain language on discipline or discharge; even if a union proposed teacher tenure, the school district is well within its rights to decline to even discuss the matter. Chapter 279 of the Iowa Code governs school districts. The word tenure is not used as it relates to teachers. However, 279.15 of the Iowa Code does state that the decision to terminate a teacher shall be for just cause. So, what does Iowa law mean by just cause? The Iowa Supreme Court has defined just cause to mean one which directly or indirectly significantly and adversely affects what must be the goal of every school system: high quality education for the districts students It must include the concept that a school district is not married to mediocrity but may dismiss personnel who are neither performing high quality work nor improving in performance. On the other hand, just cause cannot include reasons which are arbitrary, unfair or generated out of some petty vendetta. That is the current teacher termination law in Iowa. It is a pretty low bar to meet. If, in the judgment of the school district, the teachers performance in the classroom is significantly and adversely affecting the goal of providing a high quality education, the law will not save that teachers job. Make no mistake, though, there is a process that must be followed; terminating a teacher is not as simple as it would be for Donald Trump to dismiss an associate. It is wise to require a school district to go through some sort of process before terminating a teacher. It would not serve school improvement to eliminate the teacher termination process because that would allow the school district to wash its hands of responsibility for failure too easily instead of working to solve the problems, the school could place all of the blame on the person being shown the door. I do not know what teacher tenure may mean in other states. I know that we have never had it in Iowa and that any competent administrator should be able to demonstrate that a poor performing teacher is significantly and adversely affecting the delivery of a high quality education. A required process ensures that the school board is fully informed and may alert a school board to other potential problems. The law gives school districts the tools they need to address poor performing teachers; the law cannot provide school districts with the resolve to implement it. (Editor's Note: Nate Willems, a Democrat from Lisbon, represents House District 29, which includes Mount Vernon and Lisbon.)

Recommended for you