The California appellate court has ruled in favor of teacher unions in a lawsuit that has been developing since 2012. A group of students backed by a non-profit organization sued the state of California over teacher tenures.
The decision
The California court has ruled in favor of the teachers union on Thursday, April 14, over a decision made by a lower court two years ago, when a group of students was suing the state over unconstitutional state tenure laws.
State Tenure laws have been criticized lately with similar legal issues in Minnesota and New York. Most of the suers are labeling tenure laws as unconstitutional since the “Last in, first out” rule grants new teachers tenure.
Counterparts that include the educational system with both teachers and educators assure this law protects teachers and their academic freedom rights.
The appellate court announced on Thursday that the statutes mentioned weren’t, in fact, unconstitutional. The judge proceeded to explain that tenure process itself, didn’t directly mean a harm cause for black and latin students.
On the ruling, the court assured the teachers behavior and staffing issues were a responsibility of the district’s administrators, stating that the state wasn’t provided with proof to rule against the tenure system.
Although, it was stated by the court that if the group of students and non-profit groups had targeted implementation the ruling will have occurred in a different manner.
The Vergara-student case
The Vergara case first appeared on 2012, when a latin teenager by the name of Beatriz Vergara sued the state with eight other student families from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The group of students was supported by a non-profit group called Students Matter from Silicon Valley, the group was funded by Dave Welch an entrepreneur.
The suers were stating that state laws behind the tenure system that protects teachers after just two years on the job were unconstitutional. The main target was a law called “last in, first out” that basically laid off teachers based on a reverse order of seniority instead of performance.
According to the group of teachers, these laws meant ineffective teachers working in public schools in where the amount of black and latino student is much bigger. In statements, the group of students have suffered from verbal abuse and poor education.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled in 2014 in favor of the students assuring the tenure laws were unconstitutional, in which the state appealed and resulted in a ruling in favor.
Thanks to the Vergara case, media attention has been centered in these laws and how they affect children and their education.
Source: LA Times