CalWatchdog Morning Read – April 15, 2016

By CalWatchdog Staff

Hello, everybody! A California appeals court on Thursday reversed a two-year-old landmark decision that upended teacher tenure laws.

The Vergara case challenged several state laws establishing layoff procedures based on seniority, dismissal procedures and how tenure (permanent status) was awarded. Presiding Justice Roger Boren decided the plaintiffs failed to show how the tenure laws “make any certain group of students more likely to be taught by ineffective teachers than any other group of students.”

“It is clear that the challenged statutes here, by only their text, do not inevitably cause poor and minority students to receive an unequal, deficient education,” Boren added.

The ruling is a big win for unions and is likely to be appealed. CalWatchdog has more.

In other news:
– In honor of Tax Day (which is Monday), a new Field Poll says that 54 percent of Californians think their income taxes are too high. Unsurprisingly, that sentiment is more popular with Republicans (80 percent said they pay too much) than Democrats (only 42 percent said they pay too much).

– Income taxes generate roughly two-thirds of the state’s revenue. Nearly 90 percent of that comes from the top one-fifth of taxpayers ($91,000 annually and above), which is the only group of taxpayers whose average income has increased over the last twenty years, reports The Sacramento Bee.

– Two more state lawmakers are asking for UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to step down in response to several unflattering stories by The Sacramento Bee about outside positions she held and a six-figure effort to scrub the Internet of negative details of an 2011 pepper-spraying-of-students scandal. CalWatchdog has more.

– The legislature approved $176.6 million “to conduct testing and cleanup of lead contamination in the neighborhoods surrounding the closed Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

Assembly:
– Gone ’til Monday at 1 p.m.

Senate:
– Gone ’til Monday at 2 p.m.

Gov. Brown:
– No public events scheduled.

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