Teacher tenure has a long history and, hopefully, a future 

Teacher tenure rights, first established more than a century ago, are under unprecedented attack in state legislatures, state courtrooms, and the media. In June 2014, in Vergara v. California, a state court judge struck down teacher tenure and seniority laws as a violation of the state’s constitution. Former CNN and NBC journalist Campbell Brown has championed a copycat case, Wright v. New York, challenging the Empire State’s tenure law, and similar cases are reportedly in the works in other states. 

With incentives from the federal Race to the Top program, 18 states weakened tenure laws, and Florida and North Carolina sought to eliminate tenure entirely. According to the Education Commission of the States, 10 states prohibited using tenure or seniority as a primary factor in layoff decisions in 2014, up from five in 2012.