The National Education Association is backing a lawsuit by its New Mexico chapter against state Secretary of Education-designate Hanna Skandera, seeking to invalidate her agency’s requirements for evaluating teachers.
NEA officials say the state has violated districts’ authority in dictating aspects of the evaluation systems, particularly by requiring that a certain portion be based on growth in students’ standardized-test scores.
The union and its affiliates have also filed lawsuits against aspects of teacher-evaluation laws in Tennessee and, unsuccessfully, in Colorado and Florida.