Law & Courts News in Brief

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal on Limiting Teacher-Tenure Rights

By Mark Walsh — June 19, 2018 1 min read
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The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to take up a case involving efforts by Indiana to limit teacher-tenure rights.

Without comment, the justices refused to hear the appeal of the state of Indiana and Madison Consolidated Schools, which asked them to overrule a 1938 Supreme Court ruling that held that the state’s 1927 teacher-tenure law created binding rights protecting teachers who had earned tenure.

The state and the district say the 80-year-old precedent is hampering the state’s full implementation of a 2011 Indiana law, known as SB 1, that includes a measure allowing districts to lay off teachers based on performance rather than seniority.

Both a federal district court and appellate court had ruled in a recent case in favor of a tenured teacher who had been fired as part of a reduction in force while several nontenured teachers kept their jobs.

A version of this article appeared in the June 20, 2018 edition of Education Week as Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal on Limiting Teacher-Tenure Rights

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