Editorial: Teachers not to blame for education problems

California’s K-12 public education system is consistently
one of the lowest-ranked in the country, but it is unreasonable to
place the blame solely on teachers.

Proponents of Proposition 74 claim that by increasing the time
new teachers are required to remain on probation from two to five
years and by making it easier to fire teachers who receive negative
evaluations, the measure “protects and rewards good
teachers.”

They also say schools need more money, not poorly performing
teachers.

While the latter argument is true, saying this proposition
rewards teachers is ludicrous. It merely diverts attention from the
state’s persisting budgetary problems (which the governor
promised to fix) and unfairly blames teachers in some PR sleight of
hand.

Proposition 74 also makes it possible to fire teachers after
their five-year provisional term without giving reason.
Potentially, a district could then hire another teacher for less
money ““ a devious loophole school administrators could
exploit to cut costs.

The age-old mantra should come to mind for all voters when they
head to the polls Tuesday: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it.

It’s the public school system in California that is
certainly broken ““ not the teachers.