If you think that Christie is tough on teachers . . . .

. . . . check out this unprecedented ruling by California Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu who just handed down a decree that teacher tenure laws in the state of California are unconstitutional.  That includes all related teacher dismissal and layoff laws.

This near-apocalyptic smack down  makes anything that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has done up to this point in his own efforts at teacher reform in The Garden State pale in comparison.

Treu's decision is not targeted merely towards several jurisdictions in California, but applies to each and every public school district throughout The Golden State – it could have implications nationwide.

This ruling was applauded by none other than the Obama administration’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who was reported by CNN to have said, “the decision represented ‘a mandate’ to fix a broken teaching system.

 

Duncan went on to state that Treu’s verdict could bring “to California and possibly the entire nation an opportunity to build ‘a new framework for the teaching profession’.”

Not wishing to cause immediate havoc upon his state’s education system, Treu ordered a stay of his ruling pending appeals.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of nine students within Los Angeles County who claimed to be disadvantaged by the public school system in which they find themselves.

 

Much of Judge Treu’s rationale revolves around the virtual inability to dismiss ineffective teachers, and upon his view of the negative lifetime impact that this has for students under their tutelage.

Whether or not one agrees with Treu’s thinking, his basis for such a conclusion is very specific.  It deserves a full read of his rationale that is summarized in a CNN report upon which this post drew its information.

Example:  One of Treu’s conclusions is that his court “finds the current system required by the dismissal statutes to be so complex, time consuming and expensive as to make an effective, efficient, yet fair dismissal of a grossly ineffective teacher illusory.”

I will add this:  It is far easier not to give someone tenure in the first place, should there be even a soupçon of doubt as to that educator’s ability to serve in a specific educational position.

That should be the case, no matter what amount of pressure is brought to bear upon a Board of Education whose responsibility it is to assure that only the best and brightest make it through.