ASHEVILLE — Supporters of proposed legislation to end tenure for teachers say it will improve accountability, allowing school systems to more easily get rid of teachers who aren’t doing the job.

But opponents are calling the proposal another attack on teachers and an attempt to silence them.

“This is part of their (Republican lawmakers’) mantra that money doesn’t matter, and the problem is the teacher. They have piled on and beat on teachers for a year,” said Sen. Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe.

The tenure proposal would have teachers move to one-year contracts. It is part of broader education legislation that would also have local school systems come up with a merit pay system for teachers.

“There are 90,000 teachers in North Carolina and less than 50 let go for cause. You can’t tell me we have 90,000 outstanding teachers. We may have 89,000. We may have 88,000 ... ,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, a sponsor of the bill.

The legislation was introduced in the N.C. Senate, and it will likely be debated when state lawmakers return to Raleigh in May.

A release from N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger’s office says the bill will “boost accountability in the classroom by employing teachers on annual contracts that are based on performance.”

Apodaca refutes those who say this is an effort to get back at teachers for speaking out against state budget cuts.

“That is absolute, total nonsense,” he said. “It’s people who all they want to do is say, ‘we need more money in education.’”

More money has not improved education, he said.

“We are just trying to get the debate going on how can we improve what we have,” he said.

But Nesbitt counters that the Republican majority in the General Assembly is engaged in an “all-out assault on the public school system in the state.”

“I said that when they passed the budget. This is phase two,” he said.