Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging teachers' due process rights

ST. PAUL, Minn. Oct. 26, 2016 – Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit intended to strip teachers of their rights to due process and deny local districts the ability to determine their own layoff policies. 

“Students benefit when their teachers have the freedom to speak out about conditions in their schools without the fear of arbitrary firing, so it’s no surprise this lawsuit was dismissed,” said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota. “We thought this ruling was possible when the California Appeals Court dismissed the Vergara lawsuit, on which this complaint was clearly based.” 

Judge Marrinan ruled the plaintiffs could draw no connections between low academic achievement and Minnesota's due process laws for teachers. Judge Marrinan also noted the state Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the legitimacy of the state's tenure laws, in one case calling them, "wise legislation, promotive of the best interests, not only of teachers affected, but of the schools as well." 

Specht said she hoped the ruling would lead to a renewed focus on more important education issues. 

“One of the biggest threats to the quality of education in Minnesota schools is the shortage of experienced, fully licensed teachers,” Specht said. “We hope today’s ruling will let Minnesota move beyond these insinuations about the quality of its teachers toward developing new strategies for recruiting and retaining great educators.” 

Minnesota's laws on due process for teachers are often described incorrectly. Here are three facts:  

1.              Minnesota statutes already say teachers may be fired for “failure to teach” and “inefficiency in teaching." 

2.              State law already prohibits students from being repeatedly assigned to an “ineffective” teacher. In 2015, the Legislature passed an amendment barring administrators from assigning a student to a teacher on an improvement plan two years in a row. Education Minnesota supported the change. 

3.              Minnesota statutes for due process and layoffs do not dictate where teachers are assigned. Concentrations of inexperienced or experienced teachers are the products of administrative decisions, teacher preferences and some rules that are collectively bargained.