Insurrection! California students suing state over bad teachers, pro-union policies
Posted by Leslie Eastman Friday, January 10, 2014 at 3:30pm
There have long been complaints that the California school systems acts for the benefit of teachers unions instead of the students.
Now, some California students are fighting back in court.
Nine California students have launched a lawsuit against the state, arguing that current law and entrenched practices they see as pro-union actually short-change the poor and the minority communities on their education.
Students Matter, the group driving the suit, said in a press release, “Ineffective teachers are entrenched in California’s public school system. The superintendents of many school districts affirm that their districts are beleaguered by grossly ineffective teachers and attribute the continued employment of these teachers to the challenged statutes.”
The trial is set for Jan. 27, Watchdog.org reported. Legal minds think the results could reverberate around the nation — especially in states with union strongholds.
“I think any time that you see a genuine reform in California, you empower reformers everywhere in the country who realize if you can actually fix something like that in California, you can fix it anywhere,” said Ed Ring, the executive director of the California Public Policy Center.
The plaintiffs argue that too many communities in the state aren’t living up to basic education standards, which they say is partly the fault of state laws that protect teachers and are driven by the unions.
The California Teachers Association is opposing the suit, Watchdog reported.
More details about the lawsuit can be found at studentmatters.org, including these details:
The lawsuit seeks to strike down five provisions of the education code that, separately and together, push some of our best teachers out of the classroom and entrench grossly ineffective teachers in our schools, creating an arbitrary, unjustifiable and unconstitutional inequality among students:
•Permanent Employment Statute, which effectively guarantees all teachers permanent employment, also known as tenure, after only 18 months on the job and meaningless evaluations and before new teachers even complete their beginner teacher training program;
•Dismissal Statutes, which institute a costly, time-consuming and nearly insurmountable set of obstacles for school administrators to dismiss a single ineffective teacher; and
•Last-In, First-Out Statute, which forces school districts to make decisions about district-wide layoffs and subsequent reassignments based solely on teacher seniority, with no consideration for performance in the classroom.
Those interested can donate here: Support the Vergara v. California Lawsuit.
