NJ School Board’s Larry Feinsod on how LIFO, or seniority-based layoffs, is “an impediment to instructional excellence”:

Just as tenure was in dire need of overhaul, LIFO is long overdue for elimination.  On March 18, the NJSBA Board of Directors adopted new policy language that we hope will set the stage for a major campaign to eliminate LIFO as a factor in public school employment.  The new policy provides clarity to the Association’s long-standing position on seniority:

The NJSBA believes that the seniority statute, regulations and case law thwart school management’s ability to operate efficiently and in the best interests of students; and that a school board should be able to rely upon criteria, such as a staff member’s teaching experience and job performance, when determining whom it will retain on staff after a reduction in force.

By itself, the revised policy language won’t bring about the end of LIFO; aggressive action in Trenton and at the grassroots level will.  That’s why during the coming months, NJSBA will ask local school board members to actively convey the need for critical reform to our state’s leaders.