Turnaround schools bill gets final legislative OK

CARSON CITY — The Assembly on Monday approved legislation that allows the state to designate underperforming public schools as turnaround schools and requires school districts to lay off the least effective teachers and administrators when staff reductions are necessary.

The Assembly voted 28-11 on Senate Bill 92, which now needs a signature from Gov. Brian Sandoval to become law. It passed the Senate on Sunday.

The bill part of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s education reform agenda for improving schools.

Under existing state law, school districts cannot lay off educators based solely on seniority. The bill expands that further, requiring schools to lay off ineffective educators first, and then move on to those who have been suspended for a disciplinary action or a criminal record.

Beyond that, a school district can look at whether the staff are in hard-to-fill positions. Seniority is only allowed as a final consideration after taking all other factors into account and when two or more employees equally match the criteria to be laid off.

If the state Department of Education designates a poor-performing school as a turnaround school, the school district’s board can decide whether to keep its principal there or reassign the administrator.

The principal of a turnaround school has wide latitude to make decisions about the curriculum and decide if teachers will be kept on board or reassigned elsewhere in the district. Reassigned teachers would get professional development.

“We’re bringing a new team in if necessary and starting over again,” said Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, who is sponsoring the bill.

The bill requires financial incentives for educators at turnaround schools, such as salary increases, bonuses and opportunities for professional development. Those costs are to be funded with grants from the state Department of Education.

Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said the bill’s provision calling for teachers with a disciplinary history to be laid off first opens the door to grievances because it’s tantamount to punishing an employee twice for the same offense.

“I think if some of these things start happening, there’s no way they’re going to be able to handle all these grievances,” she said Monday, when the Assembly Ways and Means Committee heard the bill.

Joyce Haldeman, a lobbyist with the Clark County School District, testified in support of the bill before the committee. She said the bill’s language addressing layoffs is not dramatically different from what the district has already bargained with the teachers union. She also noted the district has about 600 vacancies.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1