Education reform ruling ‘a mandate’ to fix tenure, firing laws:Arne Duncan

Poor and minority students will be particularly hurt by California's teacher tenure, dismissal and layoff laws, Los Angeles County Judge Rolf M. Treu ruled on Tuesday.

Judge Treu ruled that the state's teacher tenure, dismissal and layoff laws allow bad teachers to be in classrooms and force promising good teachers out, which particularly hurt poor and minority students.

U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan failed the ruling, saying it could provide California and possibly the whole nation with an opportunity to build a new framework for the noble profession of teaching.

Speaking on the topic, Duncan added, "The students who brought this lawsuit are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students. Today's court decision is a mandate to fix these problems."

However, various teacher-unions have criticized the California judge's ruling. One of the union leaders described the court ruling as "anti-public education" and a "scapegoating" of teachers for public education problems. The unions also warned that they would appeal the ruling.

Teacher tenure reforms and firing laws are hotly debated issues in the education sector of the United States, and the California case was being watched curiously by throughout the nation.