DALLAS — The largest teachers' union in Kansas is seeking to overturn provisions in the state appropriations stripping tenured teachers of their right to appeal firings.
Attorneys for the Kansas chapter of the National Education Association said the lawsuit does not seek to overturn the state funding measure but challenges the inclusion of the tenure provisions. The lawsuit filed in Shawnee County's state district court in Topeka alleges that inclusion of the tenure provision violates the state constitution's ban on "log-rolling," or including unrelated matters in one bill.
The 23,000-member union is asking a judge block only the anti-tenure provision in House Bill 2506, approved by the Kansas Legislature in April and signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback.
The spending measure increased state aid to poor school districts by $129 million for the new school year to meet a Kansas Supreme Court mandate in an education funding lawsuit filed in 2010 by parents and school districts. But conservative Republican lawmakers sought to link the new funding to policy provisions, including the one on tenure.
Supporters of the bill said it met the Constitution's requirement because it was titled "a bill concerning education" and said that all the provisions dealt with various aspects of education.
The lawsuit is "labor union politics," Brownback said.
"Kansas has high quality, well-funded schools and I signed HB 2506 to keep it that way," Brownback said in a prepared statement. "I am concerned this misdirected lawsuit may cast doubt on, or unwittingly endanger, school funding just as classrooms are convening all across Kansas."
Under previous law, teachers with three to five years on the job at one district were entitled to an administrative due process hearing before they could be summarily fired or non-renewed for the following year.
The law, which dated back to the 1950s, was intended to prevent teachers from being fired over reasons that had nothing to do with their performance, including political retribution. Civil service workers in other parts of state government have similar protections.
Critics of that law said it made it too difficult for districts to fire ineffective teachers. They also noted that most workers in the private sector do not enjoy such protections.
