Virginia's Senate on Tuesday spiked Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed overhaul of teacher and principal contracts, dealing a blow to a key piece of his K-12 education agenda.
The chamber voted 20-18 to scuttle a plan that would affect many of the state's 100,000 public school teachers. It would phase out a tenure-like contract system and start a three-year term contract process under which it would be easier to dismiss teachers.
The House of Delegates approved a similar version of the proposal — and that bill will cross over to the Senate, but its fate is uncertain after Tuesday's dispatching.
Two Republican senators with educators in their families — Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, and John Watkins, R-Powhatan, did not vote on the bill. All 20 Democrats voted against it. Watkins said after the vote that more consideration should be given to rural jurisdictions and their ability to hire young teachers.
"My wife was a teacher and I watched the system work, and I just felt like it was too abrupt," he said.
The measure, carried by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, would have put new teachers and principals on three-year term contracts, which would not automatically renew. The probation period for teachers and principals would have stretched to five years from three and they would all have had annual evaluations. Teachers on continuing contracts — about 90 percent of teachers — would have kept them.
The proposal had been weakened since McDonnell proposed it as a system with annual contracts and evaluations, but he has continued to push for the legislation. The effort included a conference call organized by his political operation to urge a handpicked audience to advocate for its passage.
He has said that the proposal carried more rigorous performance reviews that relate to, among other things, student achievement.
Opponents of the measure, including the Virginia Education Association, which represents the state's public school teachers, argue that the changes would hurt new teacher recruiting, especially when surrounding states grant continuing contracts.
One of the reasons why people are attracted to teaching as a profession "is that there's a certain amount of stability if you're a good teacher," said Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond. "This bill would change that."
Norment said on the floor Tuesday that he received an email from his daughter, a kindergarten teacher, that wished him a happy Valentine's Day and said, "Don't stick it to the teachers."
McDonnell's press secretary, Jeff Caldwell, said the governor "continues to be committed to this important education reform."
"This issue still has a long way to go, and the administration is committed to strongly advocating for the successful House version of this legislation," he said.
"This legislation will recognize our great teachers for their success; provide teachers and administrators with benchmarking and performance measures; and, most importantly, yield better results for our students."
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