Chesterfield student suspended for bringing vapor pen to school
NBC 12
(June 10, 2014)

Long among the most powerful forces in American politics, the unions are contending with falling revenue and declining membership, damaging court cases, the defection of once-loyal Democratic allies — and a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign portraying them as greedy and selfish.

The recent CEPI Commonwealth Education Poll asked Virginians whether they thought teachers in Virginia public shools should be offered tenure (what is technically known as "continuing contract").   As you can see from the graphic below, over the past few years there has been a strong plurality opposed to offering tenure, but in 2014 the split was the closest we've seen with 45% opposed to offering tenure and 41% in favor.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, respondents who have been employed by a school system are more likely to favor the offering of tenure (54%) than respondents who have not been employed by a school system.  Minorities are also more supportive of tenure (49% favor it) than white respondents (37%).  It's also interesting to note the difference in perspective between age groups - among younger respondents, ages 18-34, 50% supported offering tenure while no other age group had support from more than 40% of the cohort. 

To read the full results of our poll, visit our website.  The question pertaining to teacher tenure is #9 (topline on page 30, crosstab on page 49).

In recent years tenure has come under attack, especially from those who wish to hasten the process of reforming public education. The general view of these critics is that tenure status for administrators and teachers (where available by law) represents a major impediment to true reform. More specifically, they believe that tenure, once awarded, makes it impossible to remove individuals whose job performance is less than acceptable.

Historical Foundation: Tenure is a position-based concept with deep historical roots in property law—especially real property in the English feudal system. Tenure can be traced back to a time when a person could only possess (hold) and live on the king’s land so long as the king granted permission and remained satisfied with the land holder’s services rendered. In early times the king never gave up true ownership of the piece of land. If the possessor’s performance and productivity did not satisfy him the property interest was terminated. While much has changed in property law over the centuries, much of its historical foundation has carried over to our legal system and is embedded in our current system of tenure as practiced in contemporary educational institutions.

Tenure Status Today. Tenure in public school systems must be placed in the context of state law. Tenure status is created by state statute. As Alexander and Alexander tell us, “[t]enure is a statutory right to hold office or employment and receive the benefits and emoluments of the position. Tenure, in general, is a mode of holding or occupying a position or job.” (Alexander and Alexander, 2012) Other legal experts make it clear that “…tenured teachers do not have a right either to a particular position in a school district or to indefinite employment.” (Fischer, Schimmel, and Kelly, 1999) As one court summarized: “[tenure] is meant to give job security to certified employees who meet the necessary qualifications and who satisfactorily have served the probationary period….” Thompson v. Modesto City High School Dist. (Cal. App. 1977) As a general rule, tenure does not automatically transfer from one position to another in the same school system, or from one school system to another in the same state. (Vacca and Bosher, 2012)