Arne Duncan on Vergara

Kudos to Arne Duncan for standing behind the Vergara ruling – and calling on all sides to work together. His article is a powerful endorsement of the judge's ruling:

Last week, a judge agreed, saying these laws deprive students of their civil rights. The decision affirmed the fundamental duty to ensure that all students, regardless of zip code, family income or skin color, receive a quality education – starting with an effective teacher.

The question is, what happens now?

One possibility is a series of appeals, probably stretching across years, and similar suits in other states and districts. Both sides have the millions such a fight would require. Improvements for teachers and students would be slow in coming.

I hope it doesn't turn out that way.

There's a second path – which is for all involved to recognize, as the court did, that the status quo is broken, and get to work on alternatives that serve students well – and respect and value teachers and the profession of teaching.

The second path may be harder to achieve. This country has plenty of experience at lawyering up. It has less at finding consensus on tough public issues.

But I am convinced it can be done. There is a common-sense path forward – built on a recognition that the interests of teachers and of disadvantaged students are not opposed, but aligned.

…It took enormous courage for 10^th grader Beatriz Vergara and her eight co-plaintiffs to stand up and demand change to a broken status quo. It'll take courage from all of us to come to consensus on new solutions.

http://www.ed.gov/blog/2014/06/drawing-the-right-lessons-from-vergara/