Every student deserves an excellent teacher

LEGISLATORS face difficult budget decisions in the coming weeks. Despite this, there is still time to join policymakers across the country in making meaningful steps in public education that will bring long-term benefits to our communities and our economy.

The way to ensure the well-being of our children, our families, our communities, our state and our nation is to provide all students with a quality education — not despite the economic crisis, but because of it. That means adopting research-based policies that improve student learning, support great teaching and close the achievement gap.

Here in Washington we have seen bold, evidence-based proposals to promote great teaching and leadership, improve student growth and work toward closing the achievement gap. Yet too many of these proposals have been sidelined, delayed or severely weakened. The excuses are the same — we can't afford it, and now isn't the time.

In truth, now is exactly the time. We can't afford to continue the same approach yet expect a better outcome. The changing nature of our economy won't wait, and our state's students cannot afford to wait either.

That's why we are proposing the Excellent Teachers for Every Student Act, which offers logical, common-sense solutions while acknowledging Olympia's difficult financial situation. The bill focuses on using best practices to improve our system in six key areas that will result in a better future for Washington students.

This proposal, filed as Senate Bill 5914, would require reductions in force to be based on teacher performance, not seniority; allow principals to approve teacher placements in the lowest-performing schools; and allow administrators to initiate due process to remove ineffective teachers in a timely manner.

It also would link National Board Certification bonuses to teacher evaluations after the first two years; phase in performance bonuses by adjusting salaries to reflect the latest research on improving student performance; and eliminate district salary enhancements benefiting only 12 of our state's 295 school districts.

These changes do not require an investment of funds, and that's important at a time like this. They instead represent a philosophical shift — acknowledging that we can and must do better with the funds we have.

After all, much effort has gone into better evaluating teachers and helping them refine their craft, through real, meaningful feedback on effectiveness and potential for growth. That effort is wasted unless we take the next logical step and use that information to promote and reward effectiveness, and ensure that our best teachers remain in our classrooms. This bill will help to do that.

State government's new budget reality is not standing in the way of implementing these reasonable, research-based solutions. In fact, now is the ideal time to let go of a system that is broken and unsustainable and, if not modernized, would put an entire generation of Washington students at risk of being left behind in school and life.

This single piece of legislation would enable us to shift our thinking to see that more is possible, shift our system to open the doors to those possibilities, and ultimately shift our future.