This item first appeared on the State EdWatch blog.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the state law changing teacher tenure and evaluations , reversing a lower court decision from earlier this year.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers challenged the law, which ties teacher pay to new evaluations, requires decisions about layoffs to be based on performance on those evaluations rather than seniority, and only grants tenure to teachers if they achieve adequate performance ratings in a certain number of years. Some of the original provisions in the 2012 law were tweaked this year.
鈥淭his is good news,鈥� Gov. Bobby Jindal, Republican, said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press. 鈥淲e appreciate the court鈥檚 unanimous ruling. Act 1 was created to help ensure we have a great teacher in every classroom, and we鈥檙e pleased that it will continue improving Louisiana schools for children and families across our state.鈥�
State Superintendent John White also praised the high court鈥檚 decisions upholding Act 1, saying it continued to give school leaders 鈥渇reedom from politics.鈥�
As my colleague Stephen Sawchuk has reported, the LFT argued in its suit that the law violated the state constitution because it to be appropriate for the scope of a single piece of legislation. District Court Judge Michael Caldwell agreed, and struck down the law twice in two separate rulings.
But the state supreme court said in its ruling that the various components of the law 鈥渁ll have a natural connection鈥� to improving public schools.
In reaction to the state supreme court鈥檚 ruling, the Louisiana union indicated that it would shift its focus from the judicial to the legislative branch:
Disappointed, but ready to approach legislature with positive solutions to Act 1 problems
鈥� LouisianaFedTeachers (@LaFedTeachers)