Tenured teacher dismissal for incompetence and the law: A study of state legislation and judicial decisions, 1983--2003

Educational reform initiatives post-1983 have focused on matters of teacher accountability and quality of instruction. Estimates show that 5--15% of classroom teachers are incompetent and less than one-half of one percent of those teachers are dismissed for incompetence annually. The purposes of this study were (a) to examine dismissal-specific statutes among the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine the impact of reform efforts from 1983--2003; (b) to review federal and state case law predicated on tenured teacher dismissal for incompetence from 1983--2003; and (c) to analyze the similarities and differences of statutory and case law for tenured teacher dismissal for incompetence between union and non-union states. The results of this study demonstrate that national reform efforts have had little impact on the dismissal of tenured teachers for incompetence. First, only 12 state laws currently attempt to provide a definition of incompetence or guidelines for making such determinations. Second, the average number of appellate cases has dropped over time from 6 per year in the 1980s to less than 2 per year by 2003. Third, no significant differences were discovered between union and non-union states in terms of the number of cases litigated or the dispositions of the lawsuits between union and non-union states. Implications of this study include the long-term effects of the teacher shortage nationwide; and the financial impact of litigation on school districts.