Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/669580
O N A P R I L 1 4 , a state court of appeal reversed a lower court decision in the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit, upholding the state's teacher seniority laws. The decision affirms the arguments of educators, civil rights groups, legal scholars and education policy experts that California statutes supporting educator rights do not harm students. "e ruling overwhelmingly underscores that the laws under attack have been good for public education and for kids, and that the plaintiffs failed to establish any violation of a student's constitutional rights," says CTA President Eric Heins. "Stripping teachers of their ability to stand up for their students and robbing school districts of the tools they need to make sound employment decisions was a wrongheaded scheme devel- oped by people with no education expertise, and the appellate court judges saw that." e Vergara lawsuit is the brainchild of Silicon Valley multimillionaire David Welch and a group of corporate attorneys and public relations experts who share an anti-union, anti-public education agenda. They founded the advocacy group Students Matter in 2010 to file the lawsuit and to recruit the nine student plaintiffs in the case. At issue were five California statutes covering due process rights for teachers, probationary periods, and the value of educator experience when school districts are forced to lay off personnel due to cuts. O v e r t h e c o u r s e of t h e n e a rly tw o-m onth tri al , award-w innin g t each ers, sup erint end ent s, prin- c i p a l s , s c h o o l b o a r d m e m b e r s , education researchers and policy experts testified on the benefit of these laws and how they work effec- tively to ensure quality instructors in well-run school districts. Plaintiffs' attorneys argued that teacher "tenure" provisions harm students by making it more difficult to dismiss "grossly ineffective" teach- ers, and that these educators often end up teaching at poor and largely minority schools, leading to educational inequality. But they presented witnesses from often-dysfunctional districts, where administrators blamed the laws instead of their own failures to fulfill basic responsibili- ties such as spending time in classrooms observing teachers or providing assistance to struggling educators. Vergara Ruling Overturned Educators applaud decision that supports students and public education Many legal experts and scholars took issue with the case. "It is easy to scapegoat teachers for the problems in schools," wrote Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, in the Orange County Register. "But it misdirects attention. California is one of the worst states in the country in student-faculty ratios. Estimates vary, but it is in bottom half of all states in per-pupil spending. Directing attention here would be far more important to improving education than elimi- nating job protections for teachers." No connection was ever made between the challenged laws and any student being harmed, or any t each er w ho should not b e in a classroom remaining there. The appellate court decision repeat- edly affirmed that current laws do not prevent districts from making personnel decisions. Educators are hopeful that the court's decision will help with the state's looming teacher shortage. Attacks on public education and on teachers, made with Vergara and other lawsuits, have made attracting and retaining teachers very difficult. Public education supporters are working together to create a climate that keeps veteran teachers in the classroom while attracting young people to the profession. Vergara v. California Timeline May 2012 With Students Matter's help, eight California public school students file suit against the state and two school districts. A ninth plaintiff joins in August. Plaintiffs dismiss the districts from the case in September 2013. May 2013 CTA and the California Fed- eration of Teachers (CFT) join the case as intervenors. January 2014 Trial begins in Los Angeles Superior Court. June 2014 The court rules the five chal- lenged statutes unconstitutional. August and September 2014 The state of California, CTA and CFT appeal the decision. February 2016 The 2nd District Court of Appeal hears oral arguments. April 2016 The appellate court reverses the decision. "Stripping teachers of their ability to stand up for their students … was a wrongheaded scheme developed by people with no education expertise, and the appellate court judges saw that." — CTA PRESIDENT ERIC HEINS 36 cta.org