states. joining me now is lead co-counsel in the case, marcellus mcrae, who joins us from los angeles, california. also with us in long island, new york is randy winegarden, president of the american federation for teachers. so nice to have you both here. thank you. good morning. let me begin with you. it s been reported there is likely to be a lengthy appeal process. is that also your understanding, and how do you see this case moving forward in that case? i think in the next couple weeks, what we re going to see is a finalization of the judge s decision and as far as the appeal process, that could obviously take anywhere from months to years, but obviously, we re going to do everything in our power in order to expedite that process. okay. let me suggest that as i read both the ruling of the judge as well as the initial lawsuit, it seems kind of clear, no one of good faith could argue that there isn t a problem of inequality in education and in educational outcomes and opportu
when it came to our schools, we eliminated teacher tenure to improve education for our children. to get tenure in louisiana out you have to be ranked in the top 10% for five years. we now have teacher tenure reform in new jersey for the first time in 105 years. when i first stood before you in 2011, i said the single most important factor in student learning is the quality of teaching. since that time, we eliminated teacher tenure. hm. this week, tenure took center stage in a big way, when california judge rolf traio released his decision in a case, a decision declaring five california statutes that protect job stability for teachers unconstitutional. those statutes included a permanent employment statute, dismissal statutes setting the procedure administrators must follow to dismiss a teacher, and the last in, first out statute
which bases layoffs on seniority. the lawsuit was brought on behalf of nine california students who claimed those rules deprived students of decent teachers especially in low income communities of color. the judge sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that those statutes impose quote, a real and apprecable impact to students rights and quality of education. the decision draws a comparison between a junior and efficient teacher and a senior incompetent teacher, saying the statutes force schools to keep the senior teachers in place and let go or not hire at all the junior efficient teacher. but it s somewhat of a reductive comparison. it assumes there are scores of junior efficient teachers available in schools, especially low income schools, in communities of color. it assumes those teachers will remain in those schools instead of gaining experience and moving on to better resourced schools that offer better pay and fewer