The Minnesota parents behind a lawsuit against that state鈥檚 teacher tenure laws have announced they will appeal an October trial court decision to throw out their case, .
As in the high profile Vergara case in California鈥攊n which protections鈥攖he plaintiffs in the Minnesota case are arguing that the state鈥檚 tenure apparatus, particularly requirements that teachers are laid off based on seniority, makes it next to impossible for administrators to get rid of bad teachers.
But Denise Specht, the president of the state teachers鈥� union, said tenure laws when schools wrong children.
鈥淭hese laws don鈥檛 prevent bad teachers from getting fired, they prevent good teachers from being fired for bad reasons,鈥� Specht said in a statement. 鈥淭enure laws protect teachers who speak out about the learning conditions in their schools. They are what assure parents they are getting the real story at conferences, or PTA meetings, or when they read an interview with a teacher in the newspaper. These laws are the teachers鈥� First Amendment.鈥�
Like in similar cases, the Minnesota parents are arguing that ineffective educators disproportionally hurt poor and minority students and they conclude that tenure is contributing to the state鈥檚 wide racial achievement gaps. But Ramsey County District Court Judge Margaret Marrinan ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to sufficiently prove the connection. Echoing the California courts, Marrinan concludes that .
The lawsuit is being backed by the Partnership for Educational Justice, a New York-based nonprofit that has sponsored similar tenure lawsuits in New York and New Jersey. The group was founded by former American television news anchor , president-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 nominee for Secretary of Education.