California's Bad Teachers Still Hard To Fire

A bill that attempted to make it easier to dismiss teachers and school employees was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Assembly Bill 375 (Buchanan-D) was designed to streamline existing law, which currently prohibits a permanent school employee from being fired unless very specific "immoral" or "unprofessional" conduct takes place. 

While Brown agreed AB 375 would make “worthwhile adjustments to the dismissal process,” he also argued other changes mandated in the legislation would “create new problems.”

“I share the authors’ desire to streamline the teacher discipline process, but this bill is an imperfect solution,” he told the assembly Thursday via a written message.

The governor makes clear in his message he wants lawmakers to go back to the drawing board. 

StudentsFirst, an advocate for teachers, released this statement following Brown’s veto:

“AB 375 was a poor, rushed attempt to fix the current teacher dismissal process, making it more complicated to dismiss teachers accused of abuse against children. We thank Governor Brown for his leadership and look forward to working with the state legislature to address this issue in a way that fulfills the state’s fundamental responsibility to protect California’s kids and put their safety first."

Click here to read existing law that outlines when and for what reasons California teachers can be fired.

Reported by Patch editor Toni McAllister