A Bay Area nonprofit targets teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the dismissal process. Foes say it wants to weaken public sector unions.

By Howard Blume

(From LA Times, May 16th 2012)

A Bay Area nonprofit backed partly by groups known for battling teachers unions has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn five California laws that, they say, make it too difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers.

The suit, filed on behalf of eight students, takes aim at California laws that govern teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the teacher dismissal process.

“A handful of outdated laws passed by the California Legislature are preventing school administrators from maintaining or improving the quality of our public educational system,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and announced Tuesday.

The group behind the legal action is the newly formed Students Matter. The founder is Silicon Valley entrepreneur David F. Welch and the group’s funders include the foundation of L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad.

The suit contends that teachers can earn tenure protections too quickly — in two years — well before their fitness for long-term employment can be determined. The suit also seeks to invalidate the practice of first laying off less experienced teachers during a budget crisis, rather than keeping the best teachers. And it takes aim at a dismissal process that, it alleges, is too costly, too lengthy and typically results in ineffective teachers holding on to jobs.

(From KSFY, May 15th 2012)

LOS ANGELES, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Yesterday afternoon, the nonprofit group Students Matter (www.studentsmatter.org) sponsored a groundbreaking lawsuit against the state of California and the California Department of Education to strike down outdated state laws that prevent the recruitment, support and retention of effective teachers. The lawsuit focuses on improving overall teacher effectiveness because of the critical role teachers play in their students’ lifetime achievement. Click here to view complaint: http://studentsmatter.org/legal-filings/complaint-for-declaratory-and-injunctive-relief

The lawsuit asks the court to strike down state statutes related to the guarantee of permanent employment after only minimal and cursory reviews; bureaucratic procedures that make it prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to dismiss ineffective teachers; and Last-In First-Out (LIFO) seniority-based layoffs that ignore teacher effectiveness. Unlike many previous education lawsuits brought against the state, the lawsuit sponsored by Students Matter would impact all school districts throughout California.

Students Matter consulted with a range of education experts and organizations in the development of the lawsuit to determine how to best bring about improvement in student achievement, and has formed an Advisory Committee which includes Alliance for a Better Community, Students for Education Reform, Democrats for Education Reform, Parent Revolution, CORE, Students First, The Education Trust-West and New Schools Venture Fund (partial list).

Theodore J. Boutrous and Theodore B. Olson, two of the lead attorneys who are fighting to overturn Proposition 8 in federal court on behalf of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, head up the Students Matter legal team.

By Stephen Sawchuk

(From Education Week, May 15th 2012)

A handful of California parents have sued the state over five laws that allegedly concentrate poorly performing teachers in schools that primarily serve disadvantaged and minority students.

Filed today in the California superior court, the lawsuit takes aim at California rules that: require tenure be granted after only two years, before a teacher’s performance has been well documented; create some dozen steps in the due-process procedures for dismissing teachers for poor performance, which the plaintiffs say allows that process to drag on for months or years; and mandate that seniority serve the major factor (barring a few exceptions) in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions-in-force.

Read the full article here.

By Ryan Lillis and Melody Gutierrez

(From The Sacramento Bee, January 21, 2011)

Sacramento has become home base for an education reform movement that aims to counter the influence of teachers unions on American school policy.

Former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee will headquarter her new education advocacy organization in Sacramento, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Thursday during his State of the City address.

Rhee’s goal is for her organization, StudentsFirst, to raise $1 billion and to use the money – much as teachers unions do – to support candidates and influence education policy in state legislatures and school districts across the country.

“What teachers unions do, that’s fine, but there needs to be a counter-voice and I think that counter-voice is this organization,” said Johnson.

The move means Johnson and Rhee, who are engaged to be married, will be a twin force on education in Sacramento. Before becoming mayor, Johnson founded a nonprofit, St. HOPE, that runs two charter schools in the city. He has made improving public schools a priority for his mayoral tenure.

It’s unclear whether StudentsFirst will focus its attention locally. Several states – not including California – have expressed interest in working with the group.

Rhee said there are “many local organizations we have talked about working in concert with” and that StudentsFirst likely would partner with Stand Up, another education nonprofit started by Johnson.

As far as Rhee is concerned, there is much work to be done. “Sacramento is probably behind the curve in terms of some of the progressive work being done around the country,” Rhee said.

Her decision to headquarter the organization in Sacramento adds significant weight to the reform movement here, education advocates said.

It’s also a move that could prove beneficial for the mayor. By landing StudentsFirst, the national focus of a controversial debate will be cast on his city.

Gloria Romero, who is heading the new California chapter of Democrats for Education Reform, said Rhee’s decision means a shake-up on the horizon for California schools. Romero’s group, a political action committee that operates in 10 states, pushes Democratic lawmakers to sever the traditional allegiance with teachers unions in order to improve low-performing schools.

“More than anything, it shows there is a critical mass converging in California to put this state on the national map on what can be accomplished in education,” said Romero, a former Los Angeles state senator who lost her bid in November to become the state superintendent of schools.

Bill Lucia, president of the education reform group EdVoice, said a key question is whether Rhee’s organization will focus on Sacramento or California. Either way, Lucia said he sees her arrival as a good thing.

“I think the opportunity to bring smart people to the table who have had success advocating for kids in whatever venue – district or national level – is definitely an asset,” he said.

But Rhee’s arrival is sure to ignite debate.

During her 3 1/2 years as chancellor of the D.C. public schools, Rhee closed two dozen campuses, fired hundreds of teachers and allowed TV cameras to follow her as she took on teachers unions and principals. She aggressively went after teacher seniority rules and pushed for merit pay as a way to attract top performers into teaching.

As a result, she became a prime target for teachers unions, who worked hard to get her boss – former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty – out of office.

Fenty, who in D.C.’s system had authority over public schools, lost his re-election bid last year. Rhee resigned soon afterward.

State Board of Education President Michael Kirst said Rhee is quickly becoming more controversial because StudentsFirst supports private school vouchers, which provide taxpayer money to public school students who want to attend private schools.

“That moves her into a more radical position than in the past,” Kirst said.

Area teachers unions are leery of Rhee’s arrival.

John Ennis, president of the teachers union in Twin Rivers Unified School District, said he doesn’t believe they will see eye to eye in areas such as vouchers and giving mayors control of schools, and questioned whether Rhee will have a lasting impact in Sacramento.

“She didn’t last long in D.C.,” Ennis said. “Her personal social skills got her in trouble there. Working with a hatchet doesn’t always work.”

Johnson said Rhee was courted by mayors around the country and that he was “not ashamed to say that I pulled out all the stops and utilized every means I had, but I managed to snag her.”

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

My friend Gary Larson emailed from California to report that the state set a record this year for the most new public charter schools to open. This fall, 103 charter schools were considered new charter schools, with 89 charter schools opening their doors for the first time. In addition, 14 new charter schools were considered by the California Department of Education new, since they were ‘re-designations’ of previously chartered schools under new state authorizing rules.

Man. Where I live it takes years to open that many charter schools. I have taken some heat on this blog for noting how uninspiring a couple of cute little charter schools can be when we’re faced with such a massive systemic education problem.

California seems to get it, and they also get that without playing politics (hardball politics) you never, ever make a dent.

Note: Operators of cute little charter schools can complain about this post at joewilliams-at-dfer.org. Show me that you have enough fire in the belly to do it!

While most of the presidential candidates continue to push supply-side education reforms (trickle-down edunomics) the L.A. Times today takes a good look at the demand-side of the equation. Waiting lists at the best schools numbering in the thousands, parental-frustration, important real estate decisions on the mind, etc. (One family figured they could rent out their North Hollywood home and then move to a $400,000 trailer park in Malibu just for the schools.)

Lo and behold, it turns out both Anglo and non-Anglo parents want good schools just as badly. Who knew? Some interesting stuff on racial integration as well.

And, speaking of Mike Piscal, his public charter schools seem to have some of the longest waiting lists, according to Howard Bloom and Carla Rivera.