As previously covered here, last month a California court ruled that California teacher tenure rules were unconstitutional under the state constitution.

New York students have followed with a similar suit regarding teacher tenure in New York:

Eleven New York Public School students filed a class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State Thursday, claiming teacher tenure laws violated their State constitutional rights to a "sound basic education."

. . .

The lawsuit declares New York Education law, Section 3020a and its implementation as unconstitutional. Plaintiffs claim that employment as an educator in New York State is an earned privilege and cannot be a life-long right for incompetent teachers; the process for due process protections are onerous and create disparate costs for lower-income and non-white populations; and if a teacher's performance is below minimum standard guaranteed by the New York State constitution, they should not able to retain their employment during a downsizing period based on their seniority. (link)

A press release announcing the suit notes the abysmal status of student performance in New York schools:

"Across New York State, about 70 percent of students do not read, write and do math at grade level. This is a crisis of epic proportions. New York City schools in mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods are staffed with the highest concentration of Unsatisfactory-Rated teachers. Yet, every attempt to hold teachers accountable for educating our children is blocked. Bad laws need to go. It is time to reform the law and put our children's interests. Every child must receive equal access to a high-quality education." (link)

It looks like for the near future this is the battle ground on which teacher tenure will be preserved or dismantled across the country.