Swan stands behind support of school administrators evaluation bill

Despite the bill's defeat by a sharply divided Missouri House of Representatives, and a divided Republican party within it, Cape Girardeau's freshman Rep. Kathy Swan stands by her support of a bill that would have created evaluations for school administrators.

Swan, a Republican, joined with 75 other House members of both parties to support the bill. But 82 House members, including 42 out of 110 House Republicans, voted against it, leading to its defeat early Thursday morning.

"The bill spoke to outcomes," she said. "Principals set the tone for their buildings, and they are crucial players in the big picture."

Other controversial provisions of the bill included eliminating seniority protection for teachers during layoffs and allowing for the firings of a probationary teacher rated ineffective for two consecutive years and of a tenured teacher rated ineffective for three consecutive years.

Swan said that from both an accountability and a business standpoint, the best employees are the ones who are retained.

"That's the best practice," she said. "We want the best for our students, and we need to have the best teachers in place to make that happen."

In its original form, the bill would have required school districts to implement an annual evaluation system for teachers and administrators based on student achievement by the 2014-2015 school year. At least 33 percent of the evaluation for teachers in core subjects would be based on student achievement and growth in multiple measurements. The system would have been used as the basis for employment decisions and would have established a four-point scale for teachers and administrators that ranged from "highly effective" to "ineffective."

However, the bill was amended to only subject school administrators to evaluations.

"The bill was scaled back in an effort to ensure passage," Missouri State Teachers Association communications director Todd Fuller said. "It didn't work."

Fuller called consideration of the bill, and its many changes, "a waste of time and money."

A similar teacher-evaluation bill was defeated by the House in April by a vote of 102-55. The new evaluation bill was introduced later that month in the Fiscal Review Committee, where it died after two Republicans joined with committee Democrats by voting not to pass it out of committee. Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, revived the bill by removing the two Republican members who opposed it from the committee. He appointed two other Republicans, including Swan, and the bill passed committee and was sent to the full House for consideration.

Jones was unavailable for comment when contacted by the Southeast Missourian on Thursday and Friday. But he has said the two Republicans were removed because they didn't understand the committee's role.

"That's what I heard," Swan said. "The role of that committee is to give an assessment of a bill's fiscal impact to the taxpayer, not to introduce policy positions."

State Rep. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, was one of the legislators removed from the committee.

"This is my third term," Hoskins on Thursday said during a telephone interview. "I'm also a Certified Public Accountant. I certainly understand the role of the Fiscal Review committee."

Hoskins said he didn't support the bill because he wanted to stand with his constituents.

"I voted for what I felt was best for them and not with the leadership," he said. "Therefore, I was removed from the committee."

Swan, who served nine years on the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, said the bill had limited fiscal impact.

State law requires all school districts to evaluate teachers and principals. The Model Educator Evaluation System established by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been used by many districts as a guide in evaluating teachers, and last month the State Board of Education gave preliminary approval to the department's new evaluation model for the 2013-2014 school year. School districts have the option of adopting the department's model or they can create their own system if it is aligned with the model's standards.

"We already have an evaluation system that is being implemented by DESE," Fuller said. "It seems counter to the process to come up with a reform to change a reform."

Fuller said the provisions amounted to an attack on tenured teachers.

"The bill would have reduced tenured teachers to at-will employees during times of crisis," he said.

According to Fuller, tenured teachers already can be removed for poor performance.

"There's a myth about tenured teachers and how they can't be fired," he said. "Every school district already has the power to remove a tenured teacher. If one is performing poorly and parents and teachers know it, the administration can, and should, start the process of removal."

The bill had been lobbied for in Jefferson City by StudentsFirst, a national reform group based in Washington, D.C. Emails sent to Lea Crusey, state director of StudentsFirst, went unreturned Thursday and Friday.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

msanders@semissourian.com

388-3652

Pertinent addresses:

201 W. Capitol Ave., Jefferson City, Mo.

407 S. Sixth St., Columbia, Mo.