Source: Court View Network

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu reviews evidence during the Vergara trial in January, 2014.

Source: Court View Network

Los Angeles Canton Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu reviews prove during the Vergara trial in January, 2014.

Ii sometime Republican governors joined an impressive array of constabulary professors, education scholars, teachers of the year, ceremonious rights advocates and land and civic leaders submitting briefs on both sides of the appeal of the Vergara lawsuit.

Last week was the deadline for experts supporting or opposing the lawsuit to submit friend of the court briefs, called amicus curiae, to the judges of the Second Commune of the California Courtroom of Appeal. The court volition review the landmark ruling of Los Angeles Superior Court Approximate Rolf Treu, who struck down 5 state instructor protection statutes affecting tenure and the processes for teacher dismissal and layoffs based on seniority.

Both sides are hoping at that place will be a ruling one-time next twelvemonth, although the court of appeal has non yet gear up a date for oral arguments for the case, and in that location is no statutory deadline for an appeals court to brand a ruling. Some cases take years before oral arguments are set.

Afterward 3 months of testimony, Treu ruled in June 2022 that the five employment laws he ruled on disproportionately injure poor and minority children by saddling them with the land's worst-performing teachers. The evidence of "the effect of grossly ineffective teachers on students is compelling. Indeed, information technology shocks the censor," Treu wrote in siding with the plaintiffs, 9 students whose case was brought by the advocacy group Students Matter. The land'due south 2 teachers unions and the state are the defendants.

Treu didn't declare tenure unconstitutional. He wrote that the electric current law, which awards due-procedure rights to teachers later two years of probation "does not provide nearly enough time for an informed decision to be made." Layoffs based strictly on seniority and not on functioning lead to the retention of incompetent teachers and the laying off of competent teachers, he ruled. And the current dismissal laws are "so complex, fourth dimension consuming and expensive as to make an constructive, efficient yet fair dismissal of a grossly ineffective teacher illusory," his decision said.

The two sides' briefs express diametric views, defending or attacking the decision on legal and policy grounds. Diane Ravitch, a noted critic of education reforms, and other pedagogy professors opposing the conclusion called the ruling deeply flawed. They said Treu failed to evidence evidence that the statutes acquired the distribution and retention of the worst teachers while ignoring the benefits to workplace stability that the laws created. Civil rights organizations opposing the ruling, including the Southern Poverty Law Centre, said that Treu ignored crucial factors, such as a lack of adequate school funding, that crusade unequal outcomes in teaching.

On the other manus, other civil rights groups, including Pedagogy Trust-West, agreed with Treu, stating that the statutes in question "accept a profound and destructive effect on California'south depression-income and minority youth." And a group of award-winning teachers wrote, "Without the Challenged Statutes, California'due south strong employee protection statutes volition still protect teachers, but students will no longer be harmed by a organisation that puts the quality of their education second."

What follows are some key passages in the friend of the court briefs filed on behalf of the plaintiffs or the defendants:

Old governors supporting the ruling

Erstwhile California Govs. Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted the brief. (Full brief hither.)

State education leaders opposing the ruling

Kevin Beiser, board fellow member of the San Diego Unified School Commune; Joan Buchanan, sometime state legislator  and board member of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District; and Steve Zimmer, board president of the Los Angeles Unified School District, were among those submitting the cursory.  (Total brief here.)

Police professors supporting the ruling

Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, Rachel Moran of UCLA Police School and Dawinder Sindhu of University of New Mexico School of Law submitted the brief. (Full brief here.)

Law professors opposing the ruling

Dean Irwin Chemerinsky and Catherine Fisk of UC Irvine Law School, Charles Ogletree of Harvard Police School, and Pam Karlan of Stanford Police force School submitted the brief. (Full cursory hither.)

Civil rights groups supporting the ruling

Education Trust–West, Oakland Alliance for Black Educators and Los Angeles Urban League submitted the brief. (Full brief hither.)

Civil right groups opposing the ruling

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Equal Justice Order, Education Law Center, Southern Poverty Police Center and Advancing Justice-LA submitted the brief. (Full cursory here.)

Business groups supporting the ruling

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the California Business concern Roundtable and the California Chamber of Commerce were among those submitting the cursory. (Full brief hither.)

Education professors, scholars opposing the ruling

Bruce Baker,  professor at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education; Eva Baker, enquiry professor of education at UCLA; Nancy Carlsson-Paige, professor emerita at Lesley Academy's Graduate School of Pedagogy; James Popham, professor emeritus at UCLA'southward Graduate Schoolhouse of Education; Diane Ravitch, research professor at New York Academy; and John Rogers, professor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education, were among those submitting the brief. (Full brief hither.)

Teachers of the yr supporting the ruling

Adam Kuppersmith, a Los Angeles Unified Instructor of the Year in 2012; Karen Sykes-Orpe, a Los Angeles Unified Teacher of the Year in 2010; and Katherine Czujko, a Los Angeles Unified Teacher of the Year in 2013, submitted the brief. (Full cursory here.)

Teachers of the year opposing the ruling

Rebecca Mieliwocki, the 2022 National Teacher of the Twelvemonth; Timothy Smith, California'southward nominee in 2022 for the National Teacher of the Year; and Jessica Pack, one of five California Teachers of the Yr for 2014, were among those who submitted the brief. (Full cursory here.)

To become more reports like this one, click hither to sign up for EdSource'due south no-price daily email on latest developments in education.