(AP) LOS ANGELES -- Lawyers for seven California schoolchildren are suing the state in an attempt to overturn five laws that they say violate their constitutional right to a fair education because they protect bad teachers.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, is the most sweeping challenge to date of teacher tenure, dismissal procedures and seniority-based layoffs -- three longtime tenets of the teaching profession that have fallen under increasingly sharp criticism in recent years but are fiercely protected by unions.
The suit called the set of laws a "statutory scheme" that keeps ineffective teachers in classrooms, particularly in low-income schools.
"These state laws create inequalities by depriving students taught by ineffective teachers of the fundamental right to education guaranteed by the state constitution," said Theodore Boutrous, one of the lawyers filing the suit. "These statutes prevent school administrators from prioritizing or even considering the interests of their students when making employment and dismissal decisions."
The lawsuit, sponsored by nonprofit education reform group Students Matter, was filed against the state and Gov. Jerry Brown, as well as state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, and the state Department of Education and board of education, and two school districts: Los Angeles Unified and Alum Rock Union in San Jose.