• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Government
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • Members
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • Home
  • Muth’s Truths
  • Politics
  • Government
  • Entertainment
  • More
    • Nevada
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Travel
    • News
    • Sports
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Government

L.A. Court Decision on Teacher Layoffs Huge Win for Students

L.A. Court Decision on Teacher Layoffs Huge Win for Students
N&V Staff
January 24, 2011

(Steve Gunn/Education Action Group) – Dozens of Los Angeles schools will be shielded from teacher layoffs and hundreds more must use a more equitable layoff policy than the current seniority-based system, according to a recent decision in county Superior Court.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge approved a settlement Friday that protects 45 schools from any teacher layoffs, and requires that teacher dismissals at the district’s remaining schools are spread more equitably, according to the L.A. Times.

An investigation by the newspaper last year revealed that seniority-based layoffs in Los Angeles resulted in “the dismissal of hundreds of highly effective teachers and fell hardest on schools in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.”

The newspaper reports that “far fewer layoffs would be necessary if the decisions were based on performance rather than seniority,” presumably because higher-paid senior teachers who aren’t performing would be subject to dismissal.

Friday’s court decision is in response to a class-action lawsuit brought by civil rights attorneys for students at three district middle schools who argued that seniority-based layoffs had a disproportionate negative effect on poor and minority students, the Times reports.

We have always believed that seniority – one of teachers unions’ most sacred policies – is bad for education because it bases employment decisions on time spent in a classroom rather than actual teaching effectiveness. The settlement in Los Angeles supports our view, and should be heralded as a huge victory for underserved students and education reformers pushing for a more accountable school system.

Predictably, union officials and their supporters in public office, including union-backed state Superintendent Tom Torlakson, fought against the city’s poor and minority students throughout a three day hearing on the case. They argued that a closer look at teacher turnover at struggling schools is necessary, and state law already allows for some exemptions to the seniority-based system, the L.A. Times reports.

We believe the union’s position is a self-serving attempt to preserve an archaic system that benefits veteran teachers at the expense of the students they’re employed to educate. Torlakson’s resistance to needed changes can only be interpreted as political payback for the massive union support he enjoyed during the last election, in our opinion.

“The fact that the union and Mr. Torlakson continue to provide excuses for a seniority system that is hurting students in the city’s most vulnerable communities says a lot about their priorities. Apparently, these people believe that political connections and profitable labor rules are more important than the right of every student to a quality education,” said Kyle Olson, founder and CEO of EAG.

“It’s exactly that kind of sickening mentality that has contributed to the proliferation of failing public schools across the nation,” Olson said. “It’s exactly that type of thinking that continues to put U.S. students farther behind their counterparts in other countries each year.”

Prev postNext post

Related Items
Government
January 24, 2011
N&V Staff

Related Items

More in Government

NEW STUDY: U.S. Sugar Industry Good for the Economy, Jobs

N&V StaffJune 19, 2022
Read More

Citizen Outreach Opposes FDA’s Proposed Ban on Flavored Cigars

N&V StaffJune 17, 2022
Read More

Policy Shifts in India, Brazil Signal Price Hikes for International Sugar

N&V StaffJune 1, 2022
Read More

Zero for Zero the Solution to Global Sugar Subsidies

N&V StaffApril 26, 2022
Read More

Sugar Shortages and Shopping Cart Fights

N&V StaffMarch 28, 2022
Read More

Making a Sugar Mountain Out of a Sugar Molehill

N&V StaffMarch 23, 2022
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Nevada Politics business Muth's Truths government Government Opinion Muth’s Truths Obama Ron Knecht News Donald Trump GOP Republicans

Copyright © 2022 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

Top 10 Policies Obama Should Propose in SOTU Address
How-To Help for the Citizen Lobbyist