LOS ANGELES -- On Feb. 11 in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, Beatriz Vergara, 15, testified to enduring a string of bad public school teachers.
A sixth-grade math teacher allegedly slept in class. A seventh-grade history teacher allegedly told Latino students they would “clean houses for a living.” and a seventh-grade science teacher called female students “stick figure” and “whore,” Beatriz told the court
Beatriz, her 16-year-old sister, Elizabeth, and seven other students say bad teachers denied their right to equal access to a quality education under the California Constitution. Their case, Vergara v. California, is attempting to overturn teacher-protection laws in the state that the students’ lawyers say make it nearly impossible to fire “grossly ineffective” teachers.
The nonprofit group Students Matter, which promotes access to quality education, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs. The group was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch.
Both sides predict that the case will be the first in a long line of lawsuits to hit states over teacher-protection rights, opening a new front in the attack on laws that govern tenure, seniority and dismissal.
Should Vergara prove victorious, states such as California _ whose constitution contains language that establishes a right to quality education _ will be particularly vulnerable to lawsuits. Even states without such language in their constitutions won’t be off limits to litigation.
“Sometimes litigation is the only route,” said Eric Lerum, the vice president of national policy for StudentsFirst, an education-reform group led by former District of Columbia schools chief Michelle Rhee. “In states where it looks as though changes are not going to happen through the legislature, you may have to force action.”
Minnesota is one state to watch. Lerum said the state passed a litmus test that made it a possible target for court cases. StudentsFirst gives Minnesota a D for its education policies. The state, according to the organization’s “policy report card,” relies too much on seniority, as opposed to classroom performance, when making decisions about teachers. Seniority factors into pay, dismissals and placement of teachers.
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…Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University who testified for the defense, counters: “It’s hard to argue that teacher-protection laws are the reason we have a big achievement gap. We have a big achievement gap because we have a big opportunity gap, which has been caused by a big funding gap.”
She argues that if those behind the case were really concerned about equity they’d take on unequal school funding, especially given that some school districts in California were receiving four times as much funding as other districts _ until a law passed last year increased funding for districts with high-needs students.
California’s per-pupil spending has traditionally ranked near the bottom nationally.
Read the entire column in the Sacramento Bee.
Linda Darling-Hammond is a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
For background on the Vergara case, read this article with Professor Darling-Hammond in Salon on charters, testing and teacher-bashing.
© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305.
