Teacher tenure is on trial in a Los Angeles courtroom as so-called education reformers challenge teachers unions over fundamental job protections.

Students Matter, an outfit created to file the suit, says that tenure and seniority allow incompetent teachers to remain in classrooms and that these teachers are concentrated in high-poverty schools that predominantly educate minority youth. The suit claims this violates the California state constitution’s guarantee of equal access to public education because poor minority students are more likely to be taught by incompetent teachers.

Defendants include the state’s governor, joined by the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers.

Teacher tenure, first adopted in a U.S. state in 1909, is designed to protect teachers from firings based on race, pregnancy, politics or other arbitrary factors such as clothing or appearance.

“Tenure permits a teacher to teach the curriculum that’s appropriate for students, without worrying that a member of the board of supervisors or board of education is going to have a different view about subjects like Islam or climate change and decide to get rid of the teacher,” said James Finberg, the lead attorney representing the California unions.

A California Teachers Association officer said the plaintiffs “want to create a cheap and easily replaceable workforce.”

The trial began on Jan. 27 and is expected to take a month or more.

Washington Post, Jan. 26