Do NJ’s Education Tenure Laws need to be changed?
Raymond R. Wiss, president of the New Jersey School Boards Association, today urged the Senate Education Committee to reform New Jersey’s existing system of school district employee tenure. “Our state’s public schools have succeeded in spite of, not because of, the current tenure system,” said Wiss in his testimony. “In elementary and secondary public education, tenure does not exist to preserve academic freedom or to advance knowledge; it merely serves as lifetime job protection.” In September, NJSBA issued a White Paper on Tenure Reform that calls for more than 30 changes in law that would accomplish that goal. Under these changes – •Lifetime tenure would be replaced with a system of renewable employment contracts, with continuation of tenure based on effective performance. Such a system would enable a local school district to hold staff accountable for ongoing effective performance. •The contract terms would be three to five years. Throughout this period, teachers would undergo obje
