Every child should be able to attend a great public school, and there is no debate that great schools require great teachers. In fact, the past decade of research has shown that teacher quality is the number one in-school factor that impacts student achievement. However, in New Jersey, unjust laws have prevented far too many students from getting the quality education they deserve.
A significant problem for New Jersey school districts is that when they are forced to cut back on teachers they are forbidden from making layoff decisions based on teacher performance. Instead, the state’s “last in, first out” (LIFO) law requires that they make cuts based solely on seniority. N.J. Rev. Stat §§ 18A:28-10, 18A:28-12. This is of particular concern for the state’s largest district, Newark Public Schools (NPS), because the most recently published state data shows that 248 of Newark’s teachers—about 10 percent—were rated less than effective. In fact, Newark is the only district in New Jersey that the current state data reports with any ineffective teachers on staff.
