The state Senate Education Committee has approved a bill to make it easier to fire teachers in California who are accused of specific offenses involving children.
The bill would remove the power to fire teachers from a three-person commission and instead place it in the hands of school boards. LA Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy testified in support of the bill.
"I don't think it's too dramatic a statement to say that this is groundbreaking for us to actually decide we're going to put a stake in the ground and say that teachers who have egregiously harmed students the system has a faster way to remove you from harming students again," said Deasy.
The measure follows a scandal earlier this year in Los Angeles where a teacher was accused of blindfolding students and abusing them.
The California Teachers Association has raised concerns about due process for teachers and currently opposes the measure.
