The Vergara decision, intended to eliminate teacher tenure and seniority, was unanimously reversed by the California appeals court.
The decision by the high court reverses the 2014 decision by Superior Court Judge Rudolph Treu, which claimed that tenure violated the rights of minority children. The Treu decision relied heavily on testimony by Raj Chetty. The Treu decision was strongly opposed by teachers’ unions.
Just days ago, former TV commentator Campbell Brown filed a Vergara-style lawsuit in Minnesota. She and her financial backers had previously filed a similar suit in New York.
The attack on teacher tenure was part of the larger corporate reform effort to cripple teachers’ unions and to make it easy to fire teachers without due process.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This makes my day.
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I’m an LA teacher. This makes my next two decades.
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We need to send special thanks to Kamala Harris for this win. Great job from our Ca. AG. Also to Jerry Brown who understood what a terrible decision Treu made, and helped get the case to the Appeals Court.
This is a huge win for teachers, and for unions.
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I cannot wait to have convo w/ my case law-SS teacher-expert about this tomorrow. Yay!
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That’s certainly good news, coupled with the current situation with SCOTUS.
Not that anyone’s asking, but I’m not eager to see Obama’s nominee approved. We can do MUCH better and should. A true progressive would be nice. I can’t decide if this nomination represents Obama still being naive enough to think that if he offers a compromise (why would he NEED to if committed to progressivism?), the GOP will play more nicely, or if he’s playing the long game, confident that either Sanders or Clinton will win in November.
If he’s doing the latter, I see at least two problems: 1) no assurance that HRC, whom Obama seems to favor rather blatantly, can beat Trump or Cruz, particularly given how much her campaign has been doing to alienated Sanders supporters since early on (and with the push into New York, it’s gotten particularly ugly); and 2) no assurance that HRC will get the nomination in the first place.
And that means that either the next nominee will come from the GOP, or it will come from Sanders (of course, there’s a third possibility to which I’ll respond in a second). In the first case, we are all seriously screwed for a very long time. In the second, assuming that Sanders would nominate a definite progressive, though perhaps not someone WAY out on the fringes of the left, the question is begged as to why Obama didn’t just nominate someone of that sort now. He had to know that the GOP was going to block anyone he nominated, and at least he would pave the way for a more progressive nominee after January 2017, I think.
Of course, there’s that third possibility: HRC wins and appoints. . . someone who represents her neoliberal views. Is that what Obama wants? And if we get that, are we really better off than with a GOP president nominating someone?
Up to now, Obama has nominated well. This latest nomination is puzzling.
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Disagree Michael…Obama made many rotten choices as with Rubin, Summers, Immelt, Rahm, Orszag, Furman, Holder….I will stop here, but there are many more that would be more seemly if appointed by Ted Cruz.
Take some time to savor this wonderful win…and send a donation to the Kamala Harris campaign for Ca. Senator. She deserves our adulation and our support.
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Ellen: I was specifically speaking of his SCOTUS nominees only. Obviously, we could start with Arne Duncan for idiocy and never finish the conversation.
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Diane,
I am a passionate supporter of unions but not dictatorship caucuses that exist within the union and control the decisions without the consent of the rank and file. This situation largely exists because the caucuses in control know they have a guaranteed membership regardless if they make contract negotiations that benefit the few vs. the many. In NYC, the UNITY caucus has been in control for 20 years through bullying tactics and making members sign loyalty oaths. The one thing Vergara could of done, is give the caucuses in charge a greater sense of social responsibility instead of making deals with corporate reformers to weaken union contracts.
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AGREED!
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I think you’re referring to the recent supreme court case Friedrichs vs CTA, in which case I agree with you. Vergara has to do with tenure, due process and order of layoffs in California.
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Thank you for speaking up! I agree with you 100%. Unions who fight for teachers rights–should treat their own Teachers RIGHT! The inside bullying, favoritism, and discrimination must stop. Or we are the “pot calling the kettle black” in other words–no better than those who try to take us down.
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I was wrong. The California Supreme Court did not reject the appeal or announce its decision.
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I make mistakes, but I admit them as soon as I know they are mistakes.
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Thank you for the good news!!! What ever happened to the case in New York that Campbell Brown filed? It seems like it just went away.
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The New York case is still in the courts. Hopefully the California decision will influence both New York and Minnesota.
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I always had a feeling it would be overruled. The original judge was bamboozled by irrelevant information that focused on emotions rather than rational thinking. The research, real research, will always be behind us. Campbell Brown and her billionaire backers rely on propaganda and anecdote. This will set a good precedent for their other fake lawsuits. This will probably end up in the Supreme Court and that is why it is imperative that a rational thinker, such as Judge Garland get on the bench and not a right-wing extremist.
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The original decision was poorly reasoned and relied on weak evidence. None of the children could point to any specific harm they suffered; two were enrolled in charter schools. One of the teachers was Pasadena’s Teacher of the Year.
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Hooray! Now I suppose SCOTUS will want to get involved and undo this sensible overruling.
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The losers are appealing to the California Supreme Court.
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Does anybody know how often does a case like this flip back to the original ruling, especially when it’s overruled unanimously?
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A 15 year old kid bringing a law suit to trial??? We all know this is backed by the koch bros and the campbell browns of the world but my question is how much money did vegara get to bring this to court? A 15 year old?? Really?? A 15 year old latina girl bringing a case against master degree educators?? What kind of corrupt country are we now living in??? 15 years old,,really?? Wow, money does really make people do anything eh. Wow why doesn’t campbell brown take up a new hobby such as maybe helping the starving children of this country or the homeless, or the special needs children of this country or the numerous children who are battling illnesses and need funds for treatment. Instead brown and her billionaire husband are worried about tenure?? Well as they say…you cannot make this up
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The children were used by the billionaires who want to crush unions
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