PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARBITRATION OF TENURE DECISIONS IN NEW YORK STATE

THOMAS R. KNIGHT

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DOI: 10.2190/CQTM-HXNT-JFA5-72FE

Abstract

Under the New York State Education Law, as interpreted by the New York Court of Appeals, labor arbitrators are barred from reviewing the substantive merits of tenure decisions made by local boards of education. The goal of this research project was to test several assumptions underlying this policy. The court assumed the public interest is advanced by maintaining the exclusive authority of school boards to make tenure decisions, even where teachers are entitled to arbitral review of unfavorable administrative actions under collective bargaining agreements. This study examined the corollary assumption that school boards exercise their tenure-granting authority rather than delegating it to administrators. It was found that school administrators do make tenure decisions, generally by the end of a teacher's second probationary year, almost never encountering opposition from school boards. It is concluded that while the Court of Appeals may have reached the right conclusion for the wrong reasons, the resulting gap in the collective bargaining rights of teachers requires legislative attention.

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