The people who want to toss teacher tenure in the trash will tell you that they are fighting for the kids.

If teachers weren’t protected by tenure rules, they say, schools would have an easier time getting rid of allegedly underperforming teachers and — poof! like magic — more students would get better teachers.

That in a nutshell is the logic of the tenure-bashers’ arguments.

The fact is, though, that their quest to eliminate teachers’ due-process rights fits perfectly into the political agenda of the Wall Street backers of corporate education reform and privatization:

• The lawsuits against tenure divert public attention away from the real challenges facing our public schools — particularly, the growing rate of child poverty. But hedge-funders and other 1-percenters like Campbell Brown who are trying to abolish tenure have no interest in working for changes to alleviate poverty, such as raising the federal minimum wage. They like the current policies just fine.
• Similarly, the attempt to topple tenure seeks to keep the focus off the growing inequality that threatens our democracy. If the tenure-bashers really wanted to strengthen schools, they could fight to increase education funding. But that might require closing corporate tax loopholes or raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy, which would not be in the interest of the 1-percenters.
• Eliminating tenure is also important to corporate reformers because it could help clear the way for privatizing public education. If tenure were abolished, teachers would risk their jobs whenever they spoke against the growing emphasis on standardized testing or funding cuts that hurt students. Teachers would be muzzled, which is exactly what the corporate education reformers want.

The bid to end tenure in itself serves the corporate reform movement by diverting attention from issues that really matter to our schools. But if they were to win and succeed in eliminating tenure, they could have free rein to squash teacher voice and privatize services while maintaining the perquisites of the wealthy class they represent — all at the expense of students and taxpayers.

You can see why they are gunning so hard to eliminate or weaken tenure. You can also see why it is so important to our students and schools to keep it.