Monday, June 9, 2014
North Carolina Tenure Repeal Violates Contracts and Takings Clauses
As promised in an earlier post on the case, I secured the trial court opinion invalidating North Carolina's teacher tenure repeal statute. Interestingly, the decision was not based on due process, but on the contracts clause in the U.S. Constitution and the state constitution's takings provision. The court reasoned that those teachers in North Carolina who had attained career status prior to the new statute had a vested contractual right in their career status and that the repeal of that right amounted to an impairment of contract, which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. Likewise, because those contract rights were vested, the repeal of those rights amounted to a taking without just compensation under state law. The full opinion is here: Download NCAE v State - Summary judgment order 6 6 14
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/education_law/2014/06/north-carolina-tenure-repeal-violates-contracts-and-takings-clauses.html