Finally, students are taking matters into their own hands, demanding that school districts recognize the needs of the students, not the wishes of teachers' unions or the will of self-will run-riot school boards. Not only attacking teacher tenure, which enables bad teachers to stay while forcing good teachers to go away during economic short-falls, the student-led lawsuit also seeks to preclude schools from instituting other laws that protect teachers at the expense of students.
The state legislature has been stalling on the issues of teacher-tenure and pension reform for too long. Our students deserve so much better than what they are getting, whether they live in Hermosa Beach or Athens on the Hill. Rich or poor, well-funded or barely getting by, schools are still shackled by empty traditions, unacceptable political and legal meanderings, and the diminution of respect and regard that the teaching profession deserves.
I am thrilled that students in Northern and Southern California, under the banner of "Students First", have taken the initiative and filed a law-suit against the state, the governor, the State superintendent of schools, and even the superintendent of the second largest school district in the country. If there is any greater criminal enterprise which is spoiling our present and ruining our future, it is the statist status quo of government monopoly in public education. Add to this nefarious mix the school boards interested exclusively in coalescing political power, the teachers' unions expressively and expressly vested in protect teacher pay, pension, and tenure, and the heady problems which have ruined public education become very prominent. Our state legislators are without excuse, permitting themselves to be bought by the highest bidder of collective action, intimidated by the money, power, and prestige of the labor union lobby. Students are suffering, parents and frustrated, and teachers see little hope of advancement or respect.
For once, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy approves a measure which also receives my approval. Justly so, he is also targeted in the lawsuit. He is sadly still a big part of the problem which has prevented schools from improving. Arbitrarily dismissing 850 teachers without tenure does not solve the most larger, yet darker figure of inadequate, incompetent, and immoral teachers who are still standing in front of classrooms. Let's not forget the unsightly administrators who have demonstrated a telling capacity to kiss up, kick down, yet cow-tow to public sector unions and private sector grievance mobs, including multicultural activists and unsatisfied parents.
My only concern is the misguided notion that education is a right. The last thing that students need is more rights, more entitlements, and more opportunities to file grievances in court. There are only so many schools, so many teachers, so many tax dollars. An economic model based on vouchers, merit pay, fewer bureaucratic hurdles, and more authority for consumers — parents, students, and teachers — will assure the much needed improvements in our schools.
Still, the legal system has become the last bastion for reform over the past few years, including the welcome Reed settlement, which enjoined 45 low-performing schools from engaging in the unequal and unjust "last hired, first fired"procedure mandated by the teacher contract. Students in low-performing schools deserve better than holding on to teachers who have established some roots in otherwise unwelcome schools. Students need choice, they need to option of enrolling wherever they want to, even if it means a two-hour commute. Parents in poor communities do not possess the capital to move to a better school district. At least they should have the option of enrolling their children wherever they believe they will receive the best education.
