OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Senate has approved a bill to implement broad education reform, including putting teachers who score lowest on performance evaluations first in line for layoffs.
Both the House and Senate budget proposals for the coming biennium include drastic cuts to K-12 education that would require teacher layoffs across the state.
Under current statute, newly hired teachers are the first to be cut.
But the bill the Senate approved Tuesday requires that performance, not seniority, determine which teachers are laid off when budget cuts demand staff reductions. Current performance evaluations rate teachers as “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory,” and a four-tier evaluation process is being tested in a pilot program.
The measure now returns to the House for approval of amendments.
