Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/16/2011 -- The planned teacher layoffs in New York City could also hit senior teachers if a bill proposed by a state senator is passed.

The city’s public schools system is set to fire 4,650 teachers to meet a budget deficit. Till now, it was assumed that this would be done under the “last hired, first fired” basis. School districts nationwide operate on this basis in which seniority is rewarded with job security.

But state senator John J. Flanagan (R) has introduced a New York City specific bill that categories teachers into nine types. The purpose he says is to make sure that good teachers stay on and having a system that is best for the students.

One of the categories is teachers found guilty of criminal charges outside of work. 529 teachers fall in that category who are still on the payroll. Another one is called substantiated allegations of misconduct with 305 teachers in it. Around 7,000 of the city’s 75,000 teachers fall into at least one of the nine categories.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been pushing for similar changes to teacher retention policies for years. He has also said that the seniority preference means that the city’s schools loose some of their brightest young teachers. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, has said that the bill will lead to
discrimination based race, gender, and age.

EducationCrossing CEO A. Harrison Barnes thinks teaching jobs in public schools are not the safe lifetime jobs they once were. “But private schools are always hiring. And public schools cannot eliminate teaching positions such as ESL teachers and special education teachers where they are required.” EducationCrossing is a job aggregator site and has been able to find 10,000 teaching jobs.