There is a right to keep your job even if you cannot do it, at least if you’re a teacher in California, according to that state’s Supreme Court. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
We understand that a teacher’s job is difficult and often thankless. But so are a lot of jobs. We also understand that private labor markets are fairly efficient and don’t award workers in the private workforce nearly the same “perks” received by California’s unionized teachers. So when the State of California denies school administrators the basic rights afforded to every private employer in the State, like the ability to dismiss “grossly ineffective” employees, we have a little difficultly sympathizing with the “victorious” teachers.
Yesterday, California’s teachers won a huge “victory” that we fear will ultimately only serve to undermine the education of their students. California’s Supreme Court struck down a lawsuit filed by 9 public school students against the State of California alleging that overly generous legal protections afforded teachers directly disadvantaged students by keeping teachers in the classroom that had proven themselves to be “grossly ineffective.” The lawsuit alleged such protections violated the State’s constitution as they, by definition, created legal impediments that prevent California’s schools from providing an effective education to all of their students. The lawsuit focused on three specific teacher protections including the requirement to provide tenure after just 18 months on the job, onerous dismissal statutes that make it nearly impossible for administrators to fire a teacher for bad performance and the LIFO statutes that requires teachers be laid off in accordance with seniority rather than effectiveness. Per the lawsuit filed in 2012 (presented in its entirety at the end of this post):
The hiring and continued employment of such grossly ineffective teachers in the California public school system is the direct result of the continued enforcement of five California statutes (the “Challenged Statutes”) that confer permanent employment on California teachers, effectively prevent the removal of grossly ineffective teachers from the classroom, and, in economic downturns, require layoffs of more competent teachers. The Challenged Statutes prevent school administrators from prioritizing—or even meaningfully considering—the interests of their students in having effective teachers when making employment and dismissal decisions. By forcing these critical decisions to be made primarily or exclusively on grounds other than students’ need for effective teachers, and therefore perpetuating the employment within the school system of a number of grossly ineffective teachers who do not serve students’ needs and who, in fact, have a real and appreciably negative impact on students’ education, these laws infringe upon California students’ fundamental right to education.
Many principals and administrators do not even attempt to remove ineffective teachers, except in the most egregious cases of illegal or immoral conduct. And even in those egregious cases—for instance, where a teacher mocks an eighth grader recently hospitalized for attempted suicide, tells the suicidal boy to “‘[c]arve deeper next time,’” and allows other students to instruct the boy on how to commit suicide—teachers protected by the California statutes at issue remain in the classroom.
The original lawsuit focused on 3 key legal protections afforded teachers by the State of California which it alleged were harmful to students:
California’s Permanent Employment Statute
Requires California’s school districts to decide whether to provide “permanent” employment after just 18th months on the job. A study referenced in the lawsuit found that 98% of teachers were ultimately granted tenure…sounds like it must be a really competitive process.
To continue reading: California Supreme Court Decides “Grossly Ineffective” Teachers Should Keep Their Jobs
