Teacher Tenure
Frequently Asked Questions

What is teacher tenure?

Tenure gives teachers who have successfully completed a probationary period (three years in Alaska) the right to an impartial hearing if an employer seeks to discipline or dismiss them for misconduct, incompetence, insubordination, neglect of duty or other serious charges.   Tenure is a guarantee of due process.  It is not a guarantee of a teaching job for life.  Tenure laws are designed to protect the free speech rights of teachers and minimize the political pressures affecting their performance in the classroom. 

What's the connection between tenure & academic freedom?

Tenure is vital to the protection of academic freedom. Without tenure, we would return to the days when teachers were dismissed for teaching unpopular opinions.  Tenure provides protection for people whose job it is to teach critical thinking and intellectual inquiry, both of which require the free exchange of ideas that are often controversial.

What is the history of tenure?

Tenure is an ancient concept enshrined in law in many countries, including many of those with renowned school systems.  It began before the Enlightenment as a way to ensure that teachers could speak freely, without fear of political interference or reprisals for discussing unpopular views.

In this country, t eacher tenure laws were enacted in some states prior to the 1920s to protect teachers from arbitrary dismissal or political favoritism.  By 1946 some 72% of teachers had tenure of some sort.  In 1955, that percentage had grown to 82%.  Over the following decades, tenure laws have been enacted and strengthened in virtually all states, so that today only three states—Georgia, Mississippi and Texas—have no tenure law at all, even for veteran teachers.

What are the educational benefits of tenure?

Tenure prevents well-qualified teachers from being removed and replaced with less qualified but better-connected people.   Today, when skilled teachers are more important than ever to educate every child, tenure is critical:

• It frees teachers to exercise their discretion as professionals, based on their skills and experience and the needs of their particular students, and to veer from lockstep prescribed methods, if in their best judgment, that will help students.

• It gives teachers the confidence and security to take professional risks, try new methods when old ones prove inadequate.

• It allows teachers to maintain high standards and grade students fairly, without fear of reprisals or untrue accusations.

• It spurs administrators to help struggling teachers improve instead of peremptorily dismissing them and starting again with a novice.

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