A good timeout
Published April 25, 2014
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, April 25, 2014.
The Guilford County school board’s opposition to a teacher contract law was vindicated, at least temporarily, Wednesday by a veteran judge who was recently reappointed by Gov. Pat McCrory.
Special Superior Court Judge Richard L. Doughton from Sparta, a former school board attorney in Alleghany County, issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the Guilford and Durham county boards of education. The action means they won’t have to comply, for now, with the requirement that they identify 25 percent of eligible teachers to reward with higher salaries in exchange for surrender of their career status rights, or tenure.
More than 40 school boards have passed resolutions opposing the law and asking the legislature to repeal it. The Guilford board, later joined by Durham, did more than that. It launched a legal challenge. One contention was that it would violate teachers’ rights to take away benefits they’d already earned under previous law.
Doughton’s ruling, which he has not yet put into writing, only indicates the suit has enough merit to go to trial and that, in the meantime, the plaintiffs don’t have to comply with the mandate.
The primary author of the law, state Senate leader Phil Berger, reacted critically. “It is hard to fathom why a single judge and a small group of government bureaucrats would try to deny top-performing teachers from receiving a well-deserved pay raise,” his spokeswoman said in a written statement. “We will appeal this legal roadblock and continue to fight for pay increases for our best teachers.”
It’s a puzzling response. The “single judge” is highly respected and experienced, having served on the bench since 1997. The “government bureaucrats” are no such thing. They’re elected school board members. It’s also a fallacy to say the requirement necessarily applies to “top-performing” teachers. The criteria set out in the law are so vague that most teachers would be eligible for the extra pay, although only 25 percent could get it. How to choose among them is the open question.
In the face of objections by so many school boards, McCrory has acknowledged there are problems with the law’s “implementation process. ... I think it’s an example of passing the policy without completely understanding the execution,” he said in February. He said he would press for changes.
No one aims to excuse teachers from accountability. Merit pay based on outstanding performance also is worth considering. But finding fair and effective ways to set those policies demands careful study, not an arbitrary mandate that enforces a penalty with the reward. Guilford’s school board members didn’t think that was right, and they’ve been upheld so far.
Their suit doesn’t deal with the larger issue of eliminating tenure for all teachers by 2018. That’s a bad move, too, and ought to be rescinded. At the very least, an N.C. School Boards Association proposal to end tenure for new teachers, but leave it for those who already earned it, is better.
When its spring session begins next month, the legislature should repeal its flawed teacher contract edict. That will spare further legal proceedings and allow time for a more thoughtful approach to teacher compensation and accountability.
Doughton made the right call to spare the Guilford and Durham school boards, for now, from the weight of a misguided policy. It’s time to start over.
