Dr. Katharine Strunk
KPCC featured an interview with Katharine Strunk about LAUSD teacher job protections.
Regardless of who’s for or against this lawsuit, USC education researcher Katherine Strunk said, the recession’s revealed that student success doesn’t drive teacher hiring and firing.
“The more senior you are as a teacher, the more expensive you are to the district,” Strunk said. “So in effect when you have a ‘Last In, First Out’ policy like you have in California, what you’re doing is requiring more teachers to be let go, because you’re letting go of the cheapest teachers.”
Strunk said the Vergara lawsuit is a big deal as many other states face similar litigation that seeks to make significant changes to what’s often a state’s largest line item: public education.
