What Is Tenure for Teachers?

Teacher tenure is a controversial topic. The practice started as a way to protect students from teacher turnover related to political changes and has been a political touchpoint ever since. Here’s everything you need to know about this policy that impacts teachers across the country.

What is teacher tenure?

At the core, teacher tenure is job protection. Tenure laws prevent teachers from being fired without a good reason. Once a teacher has tenure, their job is more secure and they won’t have yearly contracts. So, teachers who have tenure cannot be fired or not-renewed for things like using curriculum materials that some parents don’t approve of or being involved in political activities. And if they are terminated, the district follows a formal due-process procedure that lets the teacher have input.

Teacher tenure is not available to all teachers—four states (Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, and Wisconsin) do not have tenure at all. And in schools that do have tenure, the policy is limited to teachers who have met certain criteria, like working for a certain number of years.

Please help put parents in charge of their child’s education by forwarding this article to other parents, family, friends and voters.