Teacher incompetency has been a major issue in American public education. In dealing with the incompetent teacher, school administrators and school boards face the dilemma of balancing their responsibility of providing quality education to public school students against the legal procedures and requirements which must be observed both prior to and during dismissal proceedings brought against the teacher. Key questions were raised in this study and answers were provided. The questions addressed major educational issues regarding teacher dismissal for incompetence, the historical basis for due process rights of teachers, statutory differences in how states treat teacher dismissal on grounds of incompetency, the relevant areas for determining whether a teacher is incompetent, legal principles established by important cases and particular trends deduced from an analysis of court decisions regarding teacher dismissal for incompetence, the role of due process in the dismissal of incompetent tenured teachers, and steps which should be taken by school administrators to insure that the dismissal of a teacher for incompetency will be upheld by the courts if litigated
