Court Overturn’s LAUSD’s Seniority Exemption
United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) has won a small victory in its fight to preserve seniority rights at Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD), according to the 4LAKids Blog.
In February, 2010, in Reed vs. California, lawyers argued that low performing, low income schools were unfairly impacted by layoffs since they tend to have higher percentages of younger teachers who lack seniority and that this violated students’ constitutional right to educational equity. Judges ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, paving the way for LAUSD to exempt 45 schools from seniority rules, even though this violated state law and teachers’ contracts.
UTLA sued to overturn the ruling and the California 2nd District Court of Appeal has now invalidated LAUSD's exemption. In the 2 to 1 decision, the justices said that UTLA has the right to a trial where they can argue the merits of their case. The ACLU, which supported the Reed lawsuit, is planning on appealing the case to the state supreme court. Until the Supreme Court