A Staten Island judge Thursday allowed a challenge to the state鈥檚 teacher-employment rules to go forward, ruling against the state, New York City, and teachers鈥� unions that had filed the case. The ruling is a particular blow for the unions, which had sought to prevent the case from advancing to the trial level.
The lawsuit, Davids v. New York, is a consolidation of two similarly themed court challenges. Inspired by the 2014 Vergara v. California ruling, the New York lawsuit argues that the state鈥檚 complex rules make it too easy for teachers to be granted tenure; that seniority-based layoffs privilege experience over effectiveness; and that the dismissal process is too byzantine, all of which lower education quality鈥攊n contravention of the state鈥檚 guarantee of a 鈥渟ound, basic鈥� education for all students.
鈥淭his Court ... will not close the courthouse door to parents and children with viable constitutional claims,鈥� Judge Philip Minardo said
The decision doesn鈥檛 adjudicate any of the actual claims the plaintiffs have brought. All it does is say that that they have the standing to challenge the rules.
Still, it鈥檚 notable that the judge鈥檚 decision essentially affirms the notion that the courts, not just the state legislature, should have some say in education policy. (To date, most education equity cases have focused on finance, not on these kinds of policy details.)
New York State United Teachers, the statewide teachers鈥� unions, said almost immediately that it would appeal the decision.
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