The four mothers who argued union protections resulted in students of color having unqualified teachers have abandon their effort to change state law through the courts.
The Partnership for Educational Justice announced Thursday the group of parents, led by Tiffini Forslund of Minneapolis, has decided not to appeal a state Court of Appeals ruling dismissing their lawsuit.
The plaintiffs argued union rules and seniority-based layoffs protected unqualified teachers who were often assigned to schools with large numbers of poor and minority students. Those students’ constitutional right to an equitable and quality education suffered because of those bad teachers, their lawsuit claimed.
“We are proud to have supported the Forslund parents in their pursuit of educational justice and we look forward to seeing what will come next from this courageous group of parents who have ignited a movement for reform in their state,” Nekima Levy Pounds, attorney for the parents said in a statement.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2016 and was the subject of several rulings in district and appellate courts. In the end, judges decided that while the parents could ask the courts to intervene to ensure their children received an adequate education, they didn’t present enough evidence to make their case that teachers union protections were to blame.
Teachers union leaders argue protections like tenure allow educators to speak out about unfair working conditions and protect their students. They say school leaders have plenty of flexibility under state law when making decisions about staffing.
Under former Gov. Mark Dayton, the Legislature created a system for evaluating and training teachers to improve student outcomes. They also removed seniority-based layoffs as the default policy in state law.
The Forslund case is one of two challenges claiming state policies make schools unequal. Minnesota has one of the nation’s worst academic achievement gaps between students of color and their white classmates.
The other case, Cruz-Guzman v. State of Minnesota, argues that state laws result in schools that are segregated. It is still pending.