WHEREAS, Sixty years ago in Brown v. Board of Education ((1954) 347 U.S. 483) the United States Supreme Court noted that “education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments”; and

WHEREAS, A Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a tentative ruling in Vergara, et al. v. State of California, et al. (Case Number BC484642) (Vergara) that found California’s public education system to be unfair to low-income and minority students, who “bear the brunt of staffing inequalities”; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles County Superior Court also found that the teacher dismissal statutes “impose a real and appreciable impact on students’ fundamental right to equality of education”; and

WHEREAS, Teachers and students deserve motivating and challenging schools that set high standards and support teachers and students in reaching their goals; and

WHEREAS, Teachers are an important component of a student’s success; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles County Superior Court in Vergara noted that students faced with ineffective teachers become economically disadvantaged in comparison to their peers; and

WHEREAS, Current research shows that replacing 5 to 8 percent of the least effective teachers with an average teacher would provide long-term benefits to the economy through enhanced productivity; and

WHEREAS, The gains from increased student achievement according to historical economic patterns, would be measured in trillions of dollars; and

WHEREAS, The State of California bears the ultimate authority and responsibility to ensure that its district-based system of common schools provides basic equality of educational opportunity; and

WHEREAS, It is the duty of the Legislature to enact laws that appropriately recognize and respond to the ruling in Vergara; now, therefore, be it