Republican Judge Slams Teacher Rights
June 12, 2014 by David Weintraub
An L.A. Superior Court Judge on June 10 upheld a lawsuit brought by a billionaire’s “non-profit” entity called “Students First.” As part of the legal community that is dedicated to advocacy for the employment rights of individuals and unions, Beeson, Tayer and Bodine (BT&B) finds this to be horrible decision for teachers’ due process and seniority rights, as well as for public education in general. Here is the summary of Vergara v State of California where the judge ruled that all due process and seniority provisions in California’s Education Code are unconstitutional.
The Republican-appointed judge ruled that teachers’ right to have a hearing before they are fired and their right to be laid off in order of seniority violate the constitutional rights of students in California. The judge adopted the complainants’ tortured argument that because pre-dismissal hearings are expensive, and because some school districts don’t want to spend the money required for such hearings, some districts retain teachers who would otherwise be dismissed, resulting in some (unnamed) students being stuck with “grossly ineffective teachers,” which in turn violates their right to a quality education.
The judge’s decision reads less like a factually based, objectively reasoned court decision and much more like a political statement written by anti-public-school, anti-union, and anti-teacher organizations. The judge did not discuss the actual plaintiffs themselves nor any harm they allegedly suffered. He failed to mention it was proven at trial that some of the plaintiffs’ allegations that their own teachers were “grossly ineffective” were proven untrue by evidence those teachers were publically renowned and very accomplished educators.
The judge’s decision, like the plaintiffs’ lawyers, completely ignores the actual underlying causes of disparity in education and underperforming schools, which are not the Ed Code statutes but poverty and school conditions reflecting inadequate funding. The law firm representing the plaintiffs is the same that represented George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, adding to our opinion that this as more of a partisan ruling that violates teachers’ employment rights rather than one based in sound legal principles.
The California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers, the “intervenors” in the case, have assured us there will be an appeal of the decision, and they are confident that the decision will be overturned if reviewed under appropriate legal standards. As defenders of employment and labor rights for over 75 years and based in California we encourage the appeal. To follow some of the reaction to this ruling you can go to Twitter and search #Vergaratrial.
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