LOS ANGELES – California Governor Jerry Brown wasted no time in appealing a judge’s final decision that tenure protection laws for public school teachers disproportionately hurt poor and minority students. One can only conclude that the governor is sticking up for inadequate and unqualified public school teachers in his state at the expense of students to appease his liberal base.

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In June, Judge Rolf M. Treu of the Los Angeles Superior Court, in Vergara v. California, ruled five laws violated California’s Constitution by depriving millions of students a quality education. “All sides to this litigation agree that competent teachers are critical, if not the most important, component of success of a child’s in-school education experience,” Judge Treu wrote in his decision. “All sides also agree that grossly ineffective teachers substantially undermine the ability of that child to succeed in school.”

He finalized that decision last Thursday and Gov. Brown appealed the next day. State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris filed the appeal on his behalf.

Fox News reports nine students filed the original lawsuit in May 2012 arguing California’s hiring-and-firing rules for teachers burdened public schools, especially those in poor and minority neighborhoods, with just plain bad teachers who could not be fired.

Judge Treu said the evidence in the case was compelling and, “Indeed, it shocks the conscience.”

A lawyer for the students, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., as reported by Fox News, was critical of the appeal. “Judge Treu got it exactly right, and this appeal is destined for failure.”

Education analyst Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation welcomed the decision. She said, “Generally, I think, we are seeing the tide turn away from policies that protect the adults in the system and toward policies that truly do empower children and empower families.”

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California teachers’ union officials are grumbling and demanding that the status quo be maintained. They argue the hiring-and-firing rules protect academic freedom and help attract teachers to a tough and “badly paid” profession.

The trial represented the latest battle in a nationwide movement to toughen the standards for granting teachers permanent employment protection and seniority-based preferences during layoffs, according to Fox. Dozens of states have moved in recent years to get rid of such protections or raise the standards for obtaining them.

The one-page appeal argues that a decision of such scope needs to be made by a higher court and that Judge Treu declined “to provide a detailed statement of the factual and legal bases for the ruling.” The decision is already having a nationwide impact.

California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson was also asking Harris to file the appeal. Torlakson was one of those named in the students’ lawsuit. He says he and teachers are being unfairly blamed for a failing educational system.

In a statement, he wrote, “We do not fault doctors when the emergency room is full. We do not criticize the firefighter whose supply of water runs dry. Yet while we crowd our classrooms and fail to properly equip them with adequate resources, those who filed and support this case shamelessly seek to blame teachers who step forward every day to make a difference for our children.”

Judge Treu’s final decision couldn’t come at a worse time for Torlakson. He is running for re-election and has the backing of the teachers’ unions.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is another of those applauding the decision. In a statement posted on the U.S. Department of Education website, Duncan said, “For students in California and every other state, equal opportunities for learning must include the equal opportunity to be taught by a great teacher. The students who brought this lawsuit are, unfortunately, just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students. Today’s court decision is a mandate to fix these problems.”