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.
