Yes, I would like it to be much easier and less costly to fire tenured teachers with cause.
And, I never said it was bad. I simply stated that I would trade the alledged 4% salary hit (when compared to the private sector) for the job security and pension offered in the public sector (and time off for teachers). In other words, they aren't nearly as underpaid as you allege and I think the trade off benefits teachers by a large portion.
Private secotr has many of the same type of procedures. It is not unusal. And yes, they are relatively underpaid. They are not hourly employees. They are professionals on salary. And as I noted, they often work in many different ways during the summer. Add to it the crap they take, the disrespect, and you might see why so many don't stay in the profession.
In general, the turnover rate among teachers is significantly higher than for other occupations.1 The fact is, an alarming and unsustainable number of teachers are leaving teaching during their first few years of teaching.
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For example, a California survey found that teachers in high-minority, low-income schools report significantly worse working conditions – including poorer facilities, less availability of textbooks and supplies, fewer administrative supports, and larger class sizes, and that teachers are significantly more likely to say they plan to leave a school soon because of these poor working conditions.31 A subsequent analysis of these data confirmed that turnover problems are more strongly influenced by school working conditions and salary levels than by student characteristics in these schools.32
http://www.ncsu.edu/mentorjunction/text_files/teacher_retentionsymposium.pdf
YOUNG teachers are leaving the profession at an "alarming" rate, new figures reveal, threatening a staffing crisis in NSW public schools, with half of the teaching workforce approaching retirement.
Read more:
Rookie teachers quitting
Many analysts argue that current school staffing problems are caused as much by teacher attrition as by the failure to attract new teachers. Indeed, research has shown that approximately one-quarter of all beginning teachers leave teaching within four years (Benner 2000; Rowan et al. 2002). In general, teachers list family or personal reasons, such as pregnancy, the demands of child rearing, and health problems as reasons for leaving the profession. Job dissatisfaction, primarily due to poor salary, poor administrative support, and student discipline problems, is also among the most frequent reasons teachers give for leaving the profession (Tye and O'Brien 2002; Ingersoll 2001; MacDonald 1999). In addition, some qualitative research indicates that more general factors, including government policies, portrayal of teachers in the mass media, and community attitudes, also influence teachers' general esteem and status in society, which features largely in their professional commitment and morale.
http://www.ncef.org/pubs/teacherretention.cfm
