Vergara v. State

Public-school students (plaintiffs) in California brought an action against the state and several state officials (administrative officials) (defendants) in the trial court. The students sought an order declaring that state statutes providing for the tenure, dismissal, and lay-off of K–12 public-school teachers violated the guarantee of the California Constitution that all citizens enjoy the equal protection of the laws. There was no distinguishing characteristic mentioned in the statutes that differentiated among students on the basis of race or wealth. The students claimed that the statutes created an oversupply of grossly ineffective teachers due to the length of the probationary period, the difficulty of dismissing grossly ineffective teachers, and the reduction-in-force requirements leading to the retention of grossly ineffective teachers who had seniority. The students argued that there were two distinct classes of students denied equal protection by the challenged statutes because of the likelihood that the class members would be exposed to grossly ineffective teachers: (1) an unlucky subset of students within the student population and (2) poor and minority students. The trial court found that the tenure, dismissal, and lay-off statutes disproportionately affected minority and low-income public-school students by exposing them to grossly ineffective teachers in violation of the students’ equal-protection rights under the state constitution. The trial court enjoined enforcement of the statutes. The administrative officials appealed.