California judge rules against due process for teachers

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge struck down California's teacher tenure laws Tuesday in Vergara v. California, a closely watched case funded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch as an attack on teachers and their unions:

    Observers on both sides expect the case to generate dozens more like it in cities and states around the country. David Welch, a Silicon Valley technology magnate who financed the organization that is largely responsible for bringing the Vergara case to court - Students Matter - has indicated that his group is open to funding other similar legal fights, particularly in states with powerful teachers' unions where legislatures have defeated attempts to change teacher tenure laws.

The fact that states with unionized teachers have, on the whole, better educational outcomes than states without binding contracts for teachers makes the political agenda behind Welch's crusade clear. This is not about improving education, it's about attacking teachers. Asked about its likely outcomes after the case had been argued and the judge's leaning became clear:

    "It's certainly not going to improve education," said Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who co-directed the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, directed President Obama's 2008/2009 education transition team, and last month testified for the Vergara defense. [...]

    There's a long history in education of teachers being able to be dismissed - and in fact, that's still the case in many states which don't have due process protections - for reasons other than competence. And that can include, you know, politics - not working for the right school board member in the elections. It can include getting pregnant or married, and the school board deciding you're not going to give as much time [to work]. It can include teaching the wrong book, et cetera. And I think if we end up in a place … where we have no protection against firing for reasons other than competence, teaching - which is already a fairly unattractive occupation because of all the teacher-bashing that's going on - will become an even more unattractive occupation.

There was a time when teachers were fired for teaching the facts, not the fabricated story the local board wanted taught. Now there's this.

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OK, this decision is error filled and will lead to many persecutions of many teachers that are really good at their jobs but have run afoul of the narrow and bigoted ignorant fools that are cheering this erroneous decision.
The stated purpose of this case was to make it easier to get rid of bad teachers which is a necessary goal. The question is just what constitute a bad teacher? Other than obvious glaring examples of  bad teaching (and you know those when you see them) it is difficult to determine just who is a bad teacher.
This decision however guts the protection of due process for ALL teachers and will be used by the aforementioned n'er-do-wells who are striving to make this nation even more stupid than they have already.