California’s teacher unions vowed to fight today’s Vergara ruling that called teacher dismissal, seniority and tenure laws unconstitutional as other education groups applauded the court’s decision. Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA President-elect “All the school will be [adversely affected], but the schools where conditions are worst, which is often south LA, that’s the equity issue we’re talking...

The California Supreme Court has informed lawyers in Vergara v. California that Judge Rolf Treu’s decision will be issued at 10 a.m. tomorrow. The case pits the state and its biggest teacher unions against nine students who have asked the judge to strike down five laws that govern teacher tenure, dismissal and seniority consideration for...

Lawyers in the Vergara v. California lawsuit, a challenge to laws that govern teacher employment, have been told to expect a decision in the case by June 10. The two-month trial concluded in March, leaving state superior court judge Rolf Treu to wade through the testimony of dozens of witnesses for his decision. At issue are...

Just in case Judge Rolf Treu might have missed anything during the two months of Vergara v. California, a battle over teacher employment protections that concluded last month, the parties filed their post-trial briefs yesterday, each making one last effort to influence Judge Treu’s decision. At issue are five state laws that govern tenure, dismissal...

Via The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — An attorney representing nine California public school students told a judge Thursday that laws making it too hard to fire bad teachers and retain good ones are preventing students from obtaining a decent education and must be struck down. Theodore Boutrous Jr. made his assertions in a closing...

Closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow in Vergara v California. Lawyers for the nine public school children who are the plaintiffs will speak from 10 to noon, followed by their defense counterparts, from 1:30 to 3:30. The plaintiffs have the option to get in a last word after that, but, really, is there much new...

“Evidence is closed,” Judge Rolf Treu pronounced from his seat in Superior Court today, thus drawing the curtain on two months of testimony in Vergara v. California. Since Jan. 27, lawyers representing nine students-as-plaintiffs and their adversaries — the state and its two powerful teachers unions — the California Federation of Teachers and the California...

The defense in Vergara v California called its final witness to the stand today, a nationally-recognized expert on education policy, who provided testimony that heavily supported all the state laws under challenge in the case. Throughout the day, Linda Darling-Hammond, who teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, said unequivocally that the California laws...

An expert on the the role that teachers play in academic performance today became the latest defense witness in Vergara v California to testify that students in high-poverty area schools face higher challenges to learning. Ken Futernick, Director of the WestEd School Turnaround Center, a research organization, and a former professor of education at California...