Minnesota teacher tenure lawsuit faces first hurdle

A Ramsey County District Court judge will hear initial arguments Thursday in a lawsuit aimed at dismantling Minnesota’s union protections for public school teachers.

State and local leaders want Judge Margaret M. Marrinan to dismiss the case, saying the lawsuit is an attempt to change long-standing state laws through the court system rather than the Legislature.

“Plaintiffs’ pithy and dismissive rhetoric aside, the actual allegations in the (lawsuit) are nothing but an attempt by a handful of parents to get a court to do what the Legislature would not do,” attorneys for the St. Paul Public Schools wrote recently in a legal brief supporting the dismissal request.

Four parents from the St. Paul, Duluth, Anoka-Hennepin and West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan districts filed the lawsuit in April saying teacher tenure and staff cuts based primarily on seniority are unconstitutional and create ineffective schools for low-income students and students of color. The case is supported by the local chapter of Students for Education Reform and a national group called the Partnership for Educational Justice.

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/2016/07/13/minnesota-teacher-tenure-lawsuit-faces-first-hurdle/