A first look at today's most important education news:
- The court case over teacher job protections in California is fully underway, with plaintiffs arguing that the laws hinder the removal of ineffective teachers and disproportionately harm underprivileged students. Los Angeles superintendent John Deasy was the plaintiffs’ first witness, but ended up making a case for both sides. (Los Angeles Times, Education Week, and New York Times)
- Meanwhile, Colorado’s Denver district is facing a class-action lawsuit, which contends that teachers are being dismissed without just cause due to “mutual-consent” hiring. (Teacher Beat, Denver Post, and
- New York City schools chancellor Carmen Fariña intends to divert $210 million intended for classroom space for charter schools (and other nonprofits) towards Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pre-Kindergarten expansion. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Daily News)
- The Hechinger Report profiles the troubles that special-education students face when trying to enter college or the workforce with alternative high-school diplomas.
- Texas has officially dropped Algebra 2 as a requirement for high-school graduation. (Curriculum Matters)
