Pa. House OKs bill to ease rules for teacher furloughs

 Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is sending the Senate a bill that would allow public schools to factor in performance when laying off teachers and cut staff during hard economic times.

The House voted 100-91 Tuesday to approve the bill and send it to the Senate for consideration.

Supporters say the changes would help keep the most talented educators in the classroom even though they don’t happen to have the most seniority.

Critics said the bill relies too heavily on a 3-year-old teacher performance system in deciding which teachers should be furloughed. They said lawmakers should be focusing on how to pump more money into the public schools after four years of inadequate state funding instead of devising ways to lay off experienced teachers. 

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