TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Three years after Kansas conservatives repealed guaranteed public school teacher tenure as part of a broad school funding plan, the House voted Tuesday to restore it.
The amendment that passed 68 to 54 requires due process when a teacher’s contract is terminated, which supporters say protects teachers from wrongful termination but does not shield bad teachers.
Overland Park Democratic Rep. Brett Parker called the measure a “first step toward making teachers feel valued.” Parker, who teaches in Olathe, said many of his colleagues feel undervalued.
Salina Republican Rep. Diana Dierks said when she knocked on doors during her campaign, she was often pulled into long discussions about tenure every time she knocked on the door of a teacher. Dierks said when the House voted to end tenure in 2014, there were teachers in the building for a Kansas National Education Association convention who told her ending tenure as part of another bill was not good government. She told the House Tuesday she agreed.
But opponents argue that tenure decisions should be made at the local level by school boards and districts, not mandated by the state.
Olathe Republican Rep. Scott Schwab said the Olathe School Board provides due process, negotiated with the district. He said mandating guaranteed tenure across the state undercuts school boards’ ability to negotiate their own agreements that might work better for their district.
Without guaranteed tenure, Valley Center Republican Rep. Steve Huebert, whose daughter is a teacher, said making tenure decisions locally gives principals and school boards the power to ensure there are quality teachers.
The state’s largest teachers’ union tried to block the tenure removal with a lawsuit, saying it was passed unconstitutionally because it was added as part of the broader bill. But the Kansas Supreme Court sided with the legislature, ruling last month that the two issues were related and could be included in the same bill.
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