Judge Rules For State In Teacher Evaluation Case

May 7, 2014

Though raising questions about the fairness of the system, a federal judge Tuesday rejected a constitutional challenge to policies that stemmed from a 2011 state law tying teacher evaluations to student performance.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker dismissed part of the case last month but issued a broader order Tuesday backing the state and school boards that were named as defendants in the case.

The lawsuit, filed last year and spearheaded by the Florida Education Association, raised constitutional due-process and equal-protection arguments. It took issue with part of the law that has allowed some teachers to be evaluated based on the test scores of students who were not in their classrooms.

Similarly, teachers could be evaluated on student test scores in subject areas they didn’t teach. Walker wrote that the “unfairness of the evaluation system as implemented is not lost on this court.”

But he also wrote that the case is not about the fairness of the evaluation system but whether it is constitutional.

“The legal standard for invalidating legislative acts on substantive due process and equal protection grounds looks only to whether there is a conceivable rational basis to support them,” Walker wrote. “For reasons that have been explained, the state defendants could rationally conclude that the evaluation policies further the state’s legitimate interest in increasing student learning growth. The same can be said of the district defendants.”

FEA President Andy Ford issued a statement after the ruling that expressed disappointment and said the union is “evaluating what further steps we might take in this legal process.”

The school boards named as defendants in the case were from Alachua, Hernando and Escambia counties.

by The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News