PROVIDENCE — Legislation that would make it impossible for school districts to lay off teachers purely on the basis of seniority was expected to be heard before the Senate Committee on Education this afternoon.

The proposal was written by members of the East Side Public Education Coalition, a parents’ group, and is being sponsored by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence. Sam Zurier, a lawyer and member of the East Side coalition, said his group decided to take on the issue of bumping after it became a topic of concern at a summer education forum at the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.

At a meeting with Supt. Donnie Evans in early February, teachers sounded off about bumping, the process by which teachers with more seniority displace those with less. In one case, three teachers were hired on the same date. In a process called a tie-breaker, each teacher was assigned a number and the number that was plucked from the mix won the job.

Other teachers described their frustration at not knowing whether they will return to the same school or the same classroom from one year to the next. Because of the budget crisis this year, even senior teachers are losing their classrooms. In some smaller schools, it isn’t unusual for the principal to lose a third of the staff, which makes it difficult to build a shared culture.

In February, more than 600 teachers received pink slips, although only 66 will actually be laid off. Critics of the process say that it not only demoralizes teachers, but also disrupts the learning that takes place in the classroom, with students as the ultimate victim.

The legislation would repeal a 1946 state law that establishes seniority as the primary criteria for teacher re-assignment. (School districts also have to take into account a teacher’s certification.) Seniority would be replaced by a teacher evaluation process in which the state Department of Education would be asked to develop statewide teacher standards.

According to Zurier, the principal would be responsible for evaluating a teacher’s performance, although the bill’s proponents are also open to a peer evaluation conducted by teachers.

The legislation, which is modeled after Massachusetts law, would permit teachers to be dismissed if they fail to satisfy the state performance standards. The Providence School Board, acting on the recommendation of the superintendent, currently has the power to fire a teacher.

“Principals should be able to make that decision,” Zurier said yesterday. “They are the ones responsible for managing the staff in their buildings. They have to be able to develop a faculty [that] believes in their mission.”

Under current law, a teacher can’t be dismissed for any reason other than incompetency, incapacity, conduct unbecoming a teacher or insubordination. The Zurier bill would add another reason: failure to satisfy teacher performance standards.

Under the proposed legislation, a teacher could appeal his or her termination to an arbitrator, which is modeled after the appeals process in Massachusetts. But Zurier said his group would be willing to delegate that responsibility to the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education or its appointee. Currently, appeals go before a hearing officer with the state Department of Education.

Earlier this year, state education Commissioner Peter McWalters agreed that there is an urgent need to provide more stability in teaching staff, especially in large school districts, where bumping can affect dozens of teachers. He also said that a regents’ task force is looking at examples of effective teacher evaluations, including those currently used by local school districts. But McWalters said he would not impose a one-size-fits-all criteria on school districts, adding that the regents will establish a set of standards that districts can use as a guideline.

According to Zurier, the East Side Public Education Coalition is willing to tweak the bill’s language to make it more acceptable to educators and legislators. The main thrust of the bill is to start a conversation that addresses the problem of bumping and its impact on school stability and effective instruction.

lborg@projo.com