Alabama Senate approves bill to change teacher tenure; proposal goes to House

MONTGOMERY - The state Senate late Thursday night voted 18-16 for a change to the state tenure law, which provides job protection to public school teachers.
The plan, a revised version of Senate Bill 310 sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, now goes to the state House of Representatives for review.
The bill would change the timetable for appeals by veteran teachers who are fired on charges of incompetence or other charges.
Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association teachers' lobby, called it a ''reasonably good bill'' with one big exception: Under the bill, a tenured teacher laid off because of decreased student enrollment or shortage of revenues could not challenge his or her layoff before the school board or before a hearing officer, something a laid-off teacher can now do.
''Any time there is any excuse because of loss of funds, the school boards will have open season to do anything they wish,'' Hubbert said.
Sally Howell, executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, praised the proposed tenure revision. ''This is a great bill for the school children of Alabama. It means that school boards will more effectively be able to manage their personnel and remove ineffective employees from the classroom,'' she said.