Tenure

• Tenure protects an individual’s right to due process. It’s a matter of fairness and being “innocent until proven guilty.” The proposed tenure legislation promotes just the opposite: “guilty until proven innocent.”
• Tenure protects good teachers from the politics of the job.

Teacher tenure is under fire in Lansing, where some lawmakers want to completely dismantle state law to deny educators due process rights in discipline and dismissal proceedings. Proposals vary – from repealing tenure law altogether to changing key aspects of it. However, a Republican-led effort in the state House described as a “teacher quality package” is misleading and overreaching. The package – House Bills 4625, 4626, 4627, and 4628 – would effectively dismantle tenure AND collective bargaining.

MEA General Counsel Art Przybylowicz submitted written testimony to the House Education Committee on April 26 about House Bill 4241, a bill to repeal tenurel. The testimony includes important information about “just cause,” “arbitrary and capricious,” and tenure proceedings.