LIFO: Mayors Endorse Seniority Phaseout (No One Notices)

Resolutions aren't binding.  This one about ending LIFO isn't even written that strongly.  Ending LIFO is much less of a pressing issue than it might have seemed to be a few months ago with New York City and many other places finding ways to avoid massive teacher layoffs.  But still it seems noteworthy in the long run at least that, apparently led by Sacto mayor Kevin Johnson and LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the US Conference of Mayors last week passed a resolution "setting a goal to end personnel practices in PK-12 education based solely on seniority  and replace those with ones focused on teacher effectiveness." If layoffs were really happening, this would be tantamount to a declaration of war with union locals. But the response has been minimal -- a passing mention in Rotherham's TIME column is all I can find. It passed unanimously in committee, I'm told.  You can find it on p.128 here (PDF).