A court decision that said teacher tenure in California is unconstitutional because it deprives students of their right to an education won’t have an impact in Maine, said Education Commissioner Jim Rier.

Nationally, the June 10 court ruling dealt a blow to teacher unions and could lead to similar challenges in other states.

“We’re not in the same position as California,” Rier said Thursday. Maine’s teacher evaluation law, which was passed this year, will help identify ineffective teachers, will provide teachers who need improvement with professional development and will result in those who don’t improve to be let go, Rier said.

But others said Maine teachers are protected by tenure laws and the California ruling could impact other states, including Maine.

Earlier this week, a Los Angeles judge found that teacher tenure hurts students. “Indeed, it shocks the conscience,” Judge Rolf Treu said in his 16-page ruling.

Treu agreed that California’s current law makes it impossible to fire thousands of low-performing teachers because tenure assures them of a job for life, that seniority requires newer teachers to be laid off regardless of job performance, and that giving teachers tenure after only two years did not allow enough time to assess teachers.

There’s no dispute that thousands of “grossly ineffective” teachers are active in California classrooms, Treu said, that ineffective teachers “substantially undermine the ability of a child to succeed in school” and that students taught by teachers in the bottom 5 percent of competence lose 9½ months of learning in a year.

While some insist that Maine does not have teacher tenure, Maine has a “continued contract” law that’s similar, Lewiston and Auburn school superintendents said.

Under Maine’s continued contract law, after teachers pass a three-year probation period, it’s difficult to dismiss low-performing teachers.

“Can you fire a teacher? You absolutely can. Is it work? Absolutely,” said Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin, adding that the process involves multiple notices and up to two years.

The vast majority of teachers are effective, said Grondin and Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster.

In the past two years, Grondin has let go two of 300 teachers because of poor classroom performance. Webster said he has dismissed “a handful” of Lewiston’s 400 teachers.

“The new teacher evaluation law provides a mechanism that an ineffective teacher can be terminated without the same due process protections that continued contract provides,” he said.

The first thing Webster did after arriving in Lewiston in 2010 was to ask the Lewiston School Committee to approve a new teacher evaluation program, four years ahead of the state law. The committee approved the initiative and the program is in place.

Before, a teacher could perform poorly in the classroom but was deemed effective because he or she had multiple college degrees, dressed well or had nicely decorated classroom walls, Webster said.

Under the new system, teachers and administrators spend time observing teachers in class. Webster described an effective teacher as one who creates a healthy learning environment, has high expectations and good relationships with students, is able to engage students, makes students feel respected and helps them to become active learners.

Under the evaluation program, teachers are given one of four grades: distinguished, effective, developing or ineffective. The new state law allows teachers’ contracts not to be renewed if they’re deemed ineffective for two years. Districts have two years to implement it.

Before they’re fired, teachers are provided help to improve. “No one wants a bad teacher, but we have to make sure we give teachers every opportunity to be successful,” Webster told the School Committee in 2013.

Grondin said Auburn has been working with the local teachers’ union to change who gets laid off.

“Our language now says if there’s a reduction in force, teachers hired less than three years ago have no rights,” Grondin said. Auburn wants to include how effective a teacher is along with seniority when deciding who gets laid off. “We’re not there yet,” Grondin said, adding that the Auburn union is cooperating. “They want the best teachers.”

Lois Kilby-Chesley of the state teachers’ union said the California lawsuit highlighted the wrong problems, “proposed the wrong solutions and followed the wrong process.”

The lawsuit wasn’t about helping students, “but yet another attempt by millionaires and corporate special interests to undermine the teaching profession,” said Kilby-Chesley, spokeswoman for the Maine Education Association.

Teachers’ unions disagree with the court that tenure is unconstitutional. “Testimony and research actually showed that experience enhances teacher effectiveness and increases student productivity,” Kilby-Chesley said.

Richard Sabine, a concerned citizen and a member of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee, said tenure or continued contract should go.

“Tenure serves teachers. It doesn’t have any benefit for students,” Sabine said. “It protects teachers when it may not be necessary, and in some cases it may be bad for students.”

Sandi Jacobs of the Washington, D.C., think tank National Council on Teacher Quality, predicted the California ruling would prompt policymakers to look at their policies.

“The bottom line from the California decision is that policies that are not in students’ best interest can be challenged,” Jacobs said. “I do think we’ll see a ripple effect.”

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To read the California judge’s ruling:

Click to access Tenative-Decision.pdf

To read about Lewiston’s teacher evaluation program:

https://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2013/07/23/lewistons-new-evaluation-wake-call-few-bad-teacher/1396982