LOS ANGELES—In a closely watched court case that challenged California's strong teacher employment protections, a group of nine students have prevailed against the state and its two largest teachers' unions.
A California Superior Court on Tuesday found that all the state laws challenged in the case were unconstitutional.
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The student plaintiffs in Vergara v. California argued that the statutes protecting teachers' jobs serve more often to keep poor instructors in the schools—hurting students' chances to succeed.
Citing the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu wrote in his decision that the laws in the case "impose a real and appreciable impact on the students' fundamental right to equality of education." The decision also agreed with the plaintiffs' arguments that the poorest teachers tend to end up in economically underprivileged schools and "impose a disproportionate burden on poor and minority students."
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Among the laws challenged in the case was California's "Last-In, First-Out" layoff statute, which requires layoffs based on seniority rather than classroom performance. Also challenged were complex dismissal statutes for ineffective teachers that plaintiffs described as costly, burdensome and involving "a borderline infinite number of steps."
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Research has pointed to teacher quality as the biggest in-school determinant for student performance.
