California appeals court upholds teacher job protection laws
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California appeals court sided with unions on Thursday in overturning a lower-court ruling that declared tenure and other job protection laws for public school teachers to be unconstitutional.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the state's Second Appellate District dealt a blow to education reform groups that sued on behalf of nine students, saying teacher tenure put poor and minority students at a disproportionately greater risk of being taught by less effective instructors.
The June 2014 ruling by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in a landmark case known as Vergara v. California had already been put on hold pending appeal, keeping teacher tenure and other job protections intact.
The group behind the lawsuit, Students Matter, vowed to appeal Thursday's reversal to the state Supreme Court.
The case comes at a time of bitter political wrangling over how best to reinvigorate a U.S. public school system that leaves many American children lagging behind students in countries such as Finland and South Korea.
The original decision striking down tenure drew national attention. Then-U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan hailed it as a "mandate" to fix problems in public schools, while some educational reformers and newspaper editorialists joined in cheering the ruling.
But teachers unions denounced the decision, and California Attorney General Kamala Harris appealed with the backing of Governor Jerry Brown. Both are Democrats.
Teachers unions in California applauded the decision.
"We have a looming teacher shortage that is made worse by lawsuits like this one and the constant attacks on teachers and public education," Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
Attorneys for Students Matter argue the state's teacher tenure law creates high turnover at schools attended by poor students, because many of those campuses are staffed with younger teachers who may be effective but lack tenure and its job protections.
"We came to court to defend the rights of California's public school students and will continue to do so, despite today's temporary setback," Theodore Boutrous Jr., lead counsel for the student plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement.
The ruling in California came the same day four parents of Minnesota school children sued the state, seeking to overturn laws that grant layoff protection to teachers after three years on the job, among other statutory protections.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)
