New Jersey Judge Dismisses a Lawsuit Challenging State Rules Requiring School Districts to Base Teacher Layoffs on Seniority

74 co-founder and board member Campbell Brown

Campbell Brown loses another lawsuit aimed at ending the tenure protections of teachers. Her latest attempt involved stopping the "last in first out" excessing, where senior teachers stay and newbie teachers leave if there are layoffs.

See the Lawline episode on that with me, Attorney Bryan Glass (who asked for my participation for this show) and former DOE prosecutor Attorney Michael Mazzariello:

Lawline TV: Teachers Unions & the Last In First Out Rule

Enjoy.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com
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HG v. Harrington Legal Filings

5-4-17: Order Granting Defendant-Intervenors’ Motions to Dismiss the Complaint

4-12-17: Defendant-Intervenors’ Replies in Support of Motions to Dismiss

3-29-17: Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendant-Intervenors’ Motions to Dismiss

3-22-17: Defendant Newark Public Schools’ Answer

3-13-17: State Defendants’ Answer

3-13-17: Defendant-Intervenors’ Motions to Dismiss

3-3-17: Superior Court’s Order Staying Discovery and Directing Negotiation of a Protective Order

2-23-17: (1) Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants NJEA and AFT’s Motions to Stay Discovery, and (2) Plaintiffs’ Reply to Defendants NJEA and AFT’s Oppositions to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery from Newark Public Schools

2-8-17: AFT’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery by Newark Public Schools, and AFT’s Motion to Stay Discovery, and in the Alternative, Motion for a Protective Order

2-8-17: NJEA’s letter motion opposing Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery by Newark Public Schools

2-1-17: Superior Court’s Order Dismissing Motion to Hold Case in Abeyance and Establishing Schedule for Answers and Motion to Dismiss

1-31-17: New Jersey Supreme Court’s Order Denying State Defendants’ Abbott v. Burke Motion

1-30-17: Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery by Newark Public Schools

1-27-17: Superior Court’s Order Staying all due dates during pendency of State’s Motion for Stay of HG v. Harrington Proceedings

1-26-17: State’s Motion to hold H.G. v. Harrington in Abeyance

12-22-16: Superior Court’s Order Granting Intervention by New Jersey Education Association

12-22-16: Order Granting Intervention by American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, AFT New Jersey, and Newark Teachers Union

12-12-16: NJEA’s Reply to Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Intervene

12-12-16: AFT et. al.’s Reply to Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Intervene

12-7-16: Plaintiffs’ Opposition to NJEA’s Motion to Intervene

12-7-16: Plaintiffs’ Opposition to AFT, AFTNJ and NTU’s Motion to Intervene

11-15-16: NJEA Motion to Intervene in HG v. Harrington

11-15-16: AFT et. al. Motion to Intervene in HG v. Harrington

11-14-16: The Commissioner’s Brief in Opposition to Movants-Intervenors’ Motion to Intervene in Abbott v. Burke

11-3-16: Parents’ Motion to Intervene in Abbott v. Burke

• Related: State Motion to Re-Open Abbott v. Burke, September 2016

11-1-16: HG v. Harrington Legal Complaint

New Jersey Judge Tosses Parents’ Lawsuit Claiming Last In, First Out Layoff Rules Harm Students

New Jersey judge swiftly dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that challenged state rules requiring school districts to base teacher layoffs on seniority regardless of performance in the classroom.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson told a Trenton courtroom that the plaintiffs had failed to establish how seniority-based layoff rules known as “last in, first out” were harming their children.

“I don’t see any link other than speculation and conjecture between the LIFO statute and the denial of a thorough and efficient education to these 12 children,” Jacobson said.

The lawsuit, HG v. Harrington, was filed in November on behalf of a dozen Newark students, claiming that “last in, first out” mandates governing teacher layoffs violate their right to a “thorough and efficient” and “equal” education system under the state Constitution.

The complaint was sponsored by The Partnership for Educational Justice, a national education reform nonprofit founded by 74 co-founder Campbell Brown. Named defendants include the New Jersey State Board of Education and Newark Public School District.

The American Federation of Teachers and the New Jersey Education Association, considered “intervening” defendants in the case, filed the motion to dismiss.

(Read: New Jersey Parents File Lawsuit to End First-In, Last-Out Layoffs)

The parent plaintiffs charged that children attending Newark Public Schools and other poverty-ridden districts are denied an equitable education because statutes requiring “quality-blind” layoffs force those districts to lay off effective teachers rather than ineffective ones, or to cut spending elsewhere in the budget rather than lay teachers off.

In recent years, Newark Public Schools avoided layoffs by refusing to assign ineffective educators to any job, placing them instead in the Educators Without Placement Sites (EWPS) pool.

Even without a job, those educators are still paid — a cost that ballooned from $6.4 million in the 2011–12 school year to $22.6 million in the 2013–14 school year. Newark Public Schools Superintendent Chris Cerf, who was appointed in 2015, has since transitioned hundreds of those unassigned educators back to the classroom. Newark Public Schools plans to spend about $8 million for an estimated 80 educators in the EWPS pool next school year, according to the district.  

Kathleen Reilly, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the EWPS pool a “work-around” that “diverts the district’s already limited resources” to pay the salaries of ineffective teachers.

But union lawyers argued that because Newark Public Schools has not laid off teachers recently or announced a plan to do so in the immediate future, the plaintiffs did not establish negative consequences of the rules.

“They don’t name a single program or resource or opportunity that any individual plaintiff has been denied and which has caused that individual plaintiff harm,” said Steve Weissman, a lawyer for the AFT. “There is absolutely no specificity here.”

Reilly said the plaintiffs might appeal the dismissal to the appellate court or replead the case.

“I don’t think these parents want us to move on” from the case, she told reporters after the hearing.

HG v. Harrington is the third lawsuit filed by the PEJ challenging teacher tenure protections. In 2014, the group filed Wright v. New York, which is currently before the state Supreme Court. Last year, the group filed Forslund v. Minnesota, but it was dismissed by a judge who said issues governing teacher layoffs should rest with state lawmakers. The plaintiffs in that case have since appealed the judge’s decision.

Editor’s Note: 74 co-founder and board member Campbell Brown founded the Partnership for Education Justice. The Walton Family Foundation partially funds The 74 and PEJ