EDUCATION - California Teacher Tenure Laws Unconstitutional

I'm a Californian and this issue is the standards set for tenure, not tenure itself.  While "teachers are eligible for tenure in California after 18 months" does NOT mean they get tenure.  There should be other qualifications like a state set performance standard, with teacher performance evaluations NOT dependent on ONLY administrators.  Like include parent, student, and peer performance evaluations.

Also, the judge put a stay on his decision.

"Debating tenure protections for public school teachers" PBS NewsHour 6/10/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Teachers unions lost a major court case in California today, which could make it easier to fire ineffective teachers.  A California judge ruled that the state’s tenure protections for public school teachers are unconstitutional.

The case was brought on behalf of and by nine students, who said those policies effectively denied their right to a quality education.

We begin with some background.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down three laws, saying they offered teachers job security at the expense of many students.

Elizabeth Vergara and her sister Beatriz are two of the students who brought the complaint.  A year apart in age, they attend the same Los Angeles area high school.  The sisters told the NewsHour this spring that when they were in middle school, they both sat through a history class taught by the same ineffective teacher:

ELIZABETH VERGARA, Plaintiff:  He would just be at his desk, like, just using his computer or sleeping.  I didn’t even learn anything.  Like, I was getting behind.

GWEN IFILL:  In 2012, they joined with seven other California students to file suit against the state, saying their education suffered because teacher and tenure laws prevented schools from acting in their best interest.

Teachers are eligible for tenure in California after 18 months.  The students sought to get rid of that and other laws, including seniority protections and dismissal procedures they say allow poorly performing teachers to stay in the classroom.

But attorneys for the state and teachers unions told the judge the laws are key to recruiting and retaining a skilled teaching force, and were meant to ensure educators aren’t dismissed unfairly.