Layoffs

Recommendation

Modify layoff policies to retain high-quality, diverse teachers

Modify layoff policies so they prioritize retaining high-quality, diverse teachers in place of seniority-only based layoff decisions

Example Contract Provisions

Why This Matters

What Teachers Say They Want

Case Studies

Performance is a factor

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Layoff decisions are made with a point system that considers both performance and length of service, with performance being given more weight.

Education for Change (CA) Article 18, 2023 – 2026

Teachers are laid off based primarily on performance tiers. Teachers rated unsatisfactory are laid off first, followed by substitute or temporary teachers, probationary teachers by performance tiers, and tenured teachers by performance tiers.

Chicago Public Schools (IL) Appendix H, 2019 – 2024

Teachers are laid off based on a point system that considers both performance and length of service, with performance being given more weight.

District of Columbia Public Schools Article 4.5, 2020 – 2023

Teachers are laid off in order of their performance evaluation grouping, with the most ineffective group laid off first.

Glenview Public Schools (IL) Article V, 2023 – 2028

Teachers with unsatisfactory performance evaluation ratings are laid off first, followed by substitute teachers, and finally those with the lowest scores according to planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibility.

Urban Prep (IL) Article 19.2, 2018 – 2024

Substitute or temporary teachers are laid off first, followed by “provisional” bargaining members, then a teacher whose most recent summative evaluation was unsatisfactory, followed by seniority as the determinative factor.

Namaste (IL) Article 7.2, 2019 – 2022

Teachers are given a “layoff priority score” with 75% being determined by seniority and 25% considering “credentials, experience and performance evaluation.”

Harriet Tubman (CA) Article 8.2, 2022 – 2024

Teachers are laid off based on consideration of certification, length of service in the district, and performance. In the case of equal performance, seniority is used as a tiebreaker.

Vernon School District (CT) Article XIII, 2025 – 2027

Teachers are laid off based on consideration of four factors: certification, length of service in the district, evaluations, and needs of the system.

Danbury Public Schools (CT) Article XI, 2023 – 2026

Teachers are laid off based on a consideration of the following factors: licensure, work experience, foreign language proficiency, length of service, work performance, and needs of students.

Hiawatha Charter School (MN) Article CI Section 1, 2024 – 2027

Layoffs are made based on seniority but exceptions may be made for teachers with “special qualifications.” The article explicitly notes that evaluation scores will be added to layoff criteria once an evaluation process is established.

Yu Ming Charter School (CA) Article 16.4, 2023 – 2025

Diversity is a factor

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Teachers are exempt from seniority-based layoffs if they speak a language “relevant to the assignment,” if their removal from a school would decrease its percentage of male or female teachers to under 30%, or if their removal would decrease the representation of teachers of color in that school to less than the representation of students of color in that school or less than the representation of teachers of color in the district overall.

Portland Public Schools (OR) Article 18.6.2, 2023 – 2026

Teachers who are graduates of “grow your own programs” and/or who are members of underrepresented populations are exempt from seniority-based layoffs.

Minneapolis Public Schools (MN) Article 15.10.12, 2021 – 2023

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