I'm a teacher in the metro area. I'm also a young one who certainly stands on the chopping block first should my department take cuts.

I still disagree with this bill. Everyone LOVES to quote how all these "bad" teachers can't be fired because of their tenure, but that simply is not the case. Teachers with or without tenure can be fired for poor performance. The problem is how performance is evaluated. It varies drastically by district, but often an administrator (often with not much teaching experience themselves) sits in on a teacher's class for one hour once a year. That is the evaluation.

Even if they sit in more frequently, how do they evaluate if a teacher is doing a good job or not? All too often is simply "is the teacher following our current initiative," and these initiatives are dropped and changed every three years when the "new big thing" comes out.

Unfortunately the poorest schools that need experienced teachers and a stable staff year to year will be most affected by a loss of teacher seniority. It would open the door wide for them to simply find reasons and ways to get rid of the more expensive, more experienced teachers to higher cheaper new teachers.

What people don't understand is how much experience matters in teaching. First year teachers know NOTHING. Teacher preparation programs in colleges are sub-par, and it's something you learn on the job anyway. I'm only in my third year and I cringe at what I did the first year, and look up to the more experienced teachers I work with as a source of mentorship and advice.

It's easy to say that teachers can simply stay based on merit alone, however it's simply not a reality when a.) there's no fair and reliable way in place to truly measure a teacher's effectiveness and b.) you would be surprised how many districts will sacrifice instructional quality to make ends meet.

Everyone thinks they're an expert because they went to school as a student. What they don't realize is that the other side of the coin is a completely different ball game. The politics and struggles that teachers face day in and day out, trying to defend our professionalism with little pay only to all too often have our good ideas and hard work steamrolled over in the name of the "new big thing," or funding, or the personal interests of people in power.

Show me a way to reliably and realistically measure teacher effectiveness, and then we will talk.