This Fact Sheet provides a summary of the changes to tenure rules in New York State brought by the enactment of Chapter 143 of the Laws of 2024 and gives an overview of tenure and the tenure process (Replaces 15-15).
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Chapter 143 of the Laws of 2024, signed into law by the Governor on June 28, 2024, reversed a number of amendments to New York State (NYS) Education Law put in place by Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2015 that linked teacher tenure to Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) ratings. This NYSUT Fact Sheet will provide an overview of the specific changes affecting teacher tenure.
Tenure in NYS
Tenure is just one of the safeguards NYS has put in place to ensure every student has an effective teacher. A teacher must earn tenure after successfully completing a probationary period which allows a school district to evaluate their competency before deciding whether to grant or deny them tenure. Probationary teachers are employed for a specified period of probation which usually lasts four years. On or before the end of a teacher’s probationary period, the superintendent recommends for tenure those teachers who are found competent, efficient, and satisfactory to the school board, who ultimately by a majority vote, accept or reject the recommendation and grant or deny tenure. Once tenured a teacher is then entitled to a fair hearing before being dismissed — a basic right to due process.
Tenure provides teachers freedom to advocate for their students without fear of reprisal. Because tenure exists, teachers in NYS can speak out freely on issues such as over-testing; cuts in academic programs; elimination of art, music, foreign language and other programs; and inappropriate programs and services for students with disabilities. Without tenure, working under the constant threat of arbitrary firing would have a chilling effect on a teacher’s professional judgment and create an environment that would erode, not enhance, educational quality.
Delinking Tenure, Probation, and APPR
Under Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2015, school districts could not grant tenure if a teacher received an Ineffective APPR rating in their final probationary year or did not receive sufficient Effective or Highly Effective ratings during their probationary period. This requirement is removed under Chapter 143 of the Laws of 2024 for all school districts unless there is specific collective bargaining agreement language or appointment letter language addressing this requirement. As a result, school districts may now grant tenure irrespective of the APPR scores awarded to a probationary teacher.
Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2015 also extended the probationary period for teachers from 3 years to 4 years. This four-year probationary period continues under Chapter 143 of the Laws of 2024.
Previously teachers and substitutes could qualify for a shortened probationary period only if the teacher had proof of tenure and 3012-d APPR ratings in their final year(s) at the previous assignment. The required proof of APPR rating(s) are removed under Chapter 143, allowing previous tenure (one year) or prior substitute (up to two years) service to be the trigger for a shortened probationary period, unless there is local collective bargaining agreement language requiring APPR ratings.
Summary of Tenure Changes
- Removed the mandated changes to tenure enacted by Chapter 56 in 2015 specifically tying the granting of tenure to §3012-c and §3012-d of NYS’s Education Law regarding teacher and principal evaluation.
- Continues the extension of probationary period from three to four years for teachers appointed on or after July 1, 2015.
- A tenured teacher in a school district or BOCES who obtains employment in another district or in another tenure area in the same school district will qualify for a shortened probationary period of three years, as long as they were not dismissed from the former district as a result of 3020-a charges. APPR ratings are no longer required to grant this shortened probationary period.
- Teachers that have rendered satisfactory service as a regular substitute for up to two years shall be appointed for a probationary period of a minimum of two years, depending upon the length of the regular substitute service that shall shorten the length of the probationary period. APPR ratings are no longer required to grant this shortened probationary period.
Questions & Answers Regarding Tenure
Q: What is tenure?
A: Tenure is simply a statutory right to due process that was first enacted for New York City teachers in 1897 and expanded to cover Union Free School districts in 1937. Teachers were uniquely vulnerable in a public school setting. There were few, if any policies in place to protect teachers from being fired. Without job protection, teachers could be fired for literally any reason. Race, faith, gender and favoritism were some of the most common reasons for firing teachers before 1885, as was their political affiliation. Women could even be fired for becoming pregnant. Teacher unions in NYS did not negotiate the tenure laws. Tenure law was established in State Education Law decades before teachers’ unions were recognized in NYS. In 1945, tenure law was amended to extend basic due process rights to all public school teachers.
Q: Who is covered by the new tenure law and when does it begin?
A: The four-year probation applies to all classroom teachers, building principals, all other members of the teaching and supervisory staff, teaching assistants, and pupil personnel services providers appointed by a Board of Education on or after July 1, 2015. Section 30-1.3 of the Regulations define classroom teacher as a teacher in the classroom teaching service as defined in §80-1.1 of the Regulations: Classroom teaching service means teaching service in the public schools of New York State, which requires certification pursuant to this Part (80), excluding pupil personnel service or administrative and supervisory service.
Teacher aides are not covered under the new tenure law.
Pupil personnel service providers are not included in the definition of the classroom teaching service. Section 80-1.1(b)(30) of the Regulations defines pupil personnel services providers to mean school psychologists, school counselors and school social workers.
Q: What happens if a tenured teacher is appointed to a new tenure area in the same school district?
A: The probationary period is three years.
Q: What happens if a teacher has tenure in one district and obtains employment in another district in NYS?
A: The probationary period in the new district is now three years instead of two.
Q: What happens If a teacher is tenured in one tenure area and has been teaching in another tenure area for 40% or more of the teacher’s total instructional course load but does not have an appointment letter for one of the tenure areas?
A: Even
in the absence of a probationary appointment, if a teacher is serving 40% or more of their time in two separate tenure areas, the teacher is deemed as having received a probationary appointment in each tenure area (Matter of Freeman v Board of Educ. Of Hempstead School Dist., 205 AD2d 38, 915-916 [2d Dept. 1994]; Schoenfeld v B.O.C.E.S. of Nassau County, 98 AD2d 723, 724-725 [2d Dept., 1994]; Kaufmann v Fallsburg Cent. School Dist. Board of Educ., 234 AD2d 698, 700 [2d Dept. 1996]); 8 NYCRR 30-1.9).
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Q: What happens if a teacher has tenure in one district and obtains employment in another district in NYS?
A: The probationary period in the new district is three years.
Q: What if a teacher has served in a district for up to two years as a regular substitute classroom teacher?
A: The new law says that the probationary period would be no less than two years and the shortened probationary period will be commensurate with the length of substitute service.
Q: If a substitute is uncertified, does the time they serve as a substitute count toward the “up to two years” for shortened probation?
A: No, you have to be certified and in a dedicated “regular sub” position, you can’t use per diem and/or uncertified service for credit toward tenure.
Q. What is 3020-a and how does it relate to Due Process?
A: Education Law § 3020-a governs the disciplinary procedures of tenured teachers and administrators (except superintendents) and provides due process. Due process consists of the minimum procedural requirements that each public school district must satisfy when dismissing a teacher who has attained tenure. Due process is one of the core foundations of our judicial system. Similar safeguards are in place to ensure police officers, firefighters and other public servants at the state and local levels cannot be arbitrarily dismissed based on allegations alone, or for politically motivated reasons. Due process and tenure are NOT a job protection for life. (For more information on discipline, revocation of teaching certificates and tenured teacher removal process see NYSUT Fact Sheet 25-13.
Advice to Local Leaders
- Continue to look for additional information through NYSUT’s Leader and Member Briefings and presentations at regional conferences.
- Specific questions about teacher removal as a result of disciplinary issues should be referred to your NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist (LRS).
Resources
PA/HA/mc
7/18/2025