Major education issues to watch in 2016 – and predictions of what to expect
A safe New Year prediction: EdSource writers won’t sit around Monday mornings wondering if there’s anything to write about. Especially because it is an election year, 2016 will be interesting and intense. Here are nine big issues to follow in 2016, with my predictions about whether anything will change during the year. The scale ranges from 1 to 5 “Fensterwald Faces”, with 1 meaning no chance, and 5 meaning highly likely.
IN THE COURTS
Two lawsuits – one in state courts, one before the U.S. Supreme Court – pose huge challenges to the state’s two statewide teachers unions. One and maybe both will be decided in 2016. The California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers are worried about the outcomes – for good reason.
Vergara v. California: In 2014, ruling on a lawsuit brought on behalf of nine students, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu overturned as unconstitutional five teacher protection statutes. Treu said that a two-year probationary period for new teachers – short compared with probation in most states – a layoff statute that protected senior teachers; and dismissal statutes that can make it burdensome to fire the state’s worst-performing teachers, violated the constitutional right of low-income and minority students to an equal opportunity to get a good education.
The state and the CTA appealed the ruling, and lawyers for Students Matter, which brought the lawsuit, expected a decision in 2015. But it didn’t happen, and there’s no deadline for the Court of Appeal to rule. Treu’s 16-page decision, in the view of some analysts, was light on substance.
Likelihood that the state Second District Court of Appeal will hear oral arguments and issue a decision this year:
Likelihood that whenever it decides, the court will overturn Treu’s decision in Vegara:
Friedrichs v. CTA: In Friedrichs v. CTA et al, 10 California teachers and a teachers group, Christian Educators Association International, sued the California Teachers Association and state of California over the state law that requires that teachers pay fees to their local unions and the state CTA to cover the costs of bargaining. The teachers argued that mandatory fees violate their free speech rights.
Dating back to a four-decades-old decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of states to require public Major education issues to watch in 2016 – and predictions of what to expect | EdSource:
