FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Failed Vergara Suit Backers in Supreme Court Gambit

We learned today that that David Welch and Students Matter have filed an appeal to the California Supreme Court in their failed Vergara v. California lawsuit. We are disappointed but not surprised that they are continuing to spend large sums of money on the suit and the PR campaign attached to it smearing teachers and public education.

The California Court of Appeal, in its unanimous 3-0 decision overturning the poorly reasoned Superior Court ruling by Judge Rolf Treu, left no room for doubt that the case has no constitutional standing, and that its claims are misplaced: “We reverse the trial court’s decision. Plaintiffs failed to establish that the challenged statutes violate equal protection, primarily because they did not show that the statutes inevitably cause a certain group of students to receive an education inferior to the education received by other students.” In other words, no connection was ever made between the challenged laws and any student being harmed or any teacher who should not be in a classroom remaining there. We are confident that the Supreme Court will agree with the Appeal Court ruling. 

It is past time to focus our attention on the real issues that confront public education in California and then work collaboratively on solutions that we know work. That begins with adequate resources and policies that support smaller class sizes, strengthen peer assistance and review, reinforce positive collaborative district practices, and address the looming teacher shortage.

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The California Federation of Teachers represents more than 25,000 faculty in California’s community college system, and 120,000 employees at all levels of education in the state.