In a 16 page “tentative decision” in Vergara v. California, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu has declared that the state tenure statutes for public school teachers violate the California Constitution’s provisions on equal protection and provision of education.

Vergara is heir to cases such as San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez (1973),  in which the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to school financing as disadvantaging students of color, and Edgewood Independent School District v. Kirby, in which the Texas Supreme Court found the school financing scheme unconstitutional under the state constitution, including a “general diffusion of knowledge” provision.   Yet Vergara turns the focus from state resources to “bad teachers” and can tap into anti-teacher and anti-union and anti-government worker sentiments.

More analysis is available on the Constitutional Law Professors Blog here.