Civil Rights Concerns Over Seniority-Based Layoffs
Not long ago, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Los Angeles schools system and California over its policy for laying off teachers. The last-in, first-out system decimated teachers in a number of high-poverty, high-minority schools and, the group charged, deprived students of their state constitutional right to an education. ACLU later won an injunction in the case.
At the time, I wondered if layoffs would be increasingly viewed through this type of civil-rights lens. Now along comes an analysis from the Center on Reinventing Public Education that analyzes teacher-experience data from the 15 largest districts in California.
In 2008-2009, the paper states, teachers at risk of layoffs were indeed concentrated in the poorest schools. Schools in the highest poverty quartile, it found, were likely to see 25 percent more teacher layoffs than the
At the time, I wondered if layoffs would be increasingly viewed through this type of civil-rights lens. Now along comes an analysis from the Center on Reinventing Public Education that analyzes teacher-experience data from the 15 largest districts in California.
In 2008-2009, the paper states, teachers at risk of layoffs were indeed concentrated in the poorest schools. Schools in the highest poverty quartile, it found, were likely to see 25 percent more teacher layoffs than the