Local and national education reform groups plan to file a lawsuit Thursday that claims Minnesota’s teacher union laws protect bad educators and perpetuate the state’s achievement gap.
The national group Partnership for Educational Justice and the Minnesota chapter of Students for Education Reform will discuss the planned lawsuit at a noon news conference Thursday, a spokeswoman said.
The planned lawsuit will challenge the constitutionality of Minnesota laws related to teacher tenure, dismissal and school districts’ use of seniority when making staffing decisions, commonly referred to as “last in, first out.”
Those rules make it hard to fire ineffective educators and deprive students of their rights to quality education, the lawsuit will claim.
The head of the state’s teachers union called the threatened lawsuit an “attack” by out-of-state groups and noted that there are processes in place that allow for the removal of bad teachers.
Leaders of the groups that plan the lawsuit did not respond to a request for further comment. Two similar lawsuits have been filed in New York and California.
Republican state lawmakers have tried repeatedly to overhaul these laws, but most Democrats have opposed those changes. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a bill in 2012 that would have required districts to base layoffs on performance rather than seniority.
State law allows districts to consider factors other than seniority when making staffing decisions, but most districts use seniority as a major factor.
Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, said the lawsuit was an “attack on working people” by out-of-state groups.
“Minnesota’s due process laws protect teachers from discrimination and arbitrary punishment, including for speaking out about the learning conditions in their schools,” Specht said. “These laws are our First Amendment. They explicitly do not protect ineffective teachers.”
Brenda Cassellius, state education commissioner, said Minnesota has “rigorous laws” that provide educators due process and allow school leaders to remove teachers.
“Minnesota has some of the most hard-working and talented teachers in the nation, and we are committed to ensuring every student has a dedicated and competent teacher,” Cassellius said. “We are reviewing the lawsuit, and are unable to comment further until that review is complete.”
Minnesota has one of the nation’s worst achievement gaps between poor and minority students and their white classmates. In recent years, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have agreed on policy changes and hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending to try to close those gaps.
More than 30 percent of Minnesota students are minorities, but the state’s teaching force is roughly 96 percent white. Education advocates and lawmakers are working to streamline the state’s teacher licensing system and create new incentives to attract more educators of color to help close the achievement gap.