Texas teachers fight state rule over charter school staffing authority

The Texas State Teachers Association asked the state Supreme Court to uphold lower-court rulings striking down a Texas Education Agency rule giving charter operators 'final authority' over staffing at schools they take over from districts facing state takeover. Two lower courts already found the rule invalid, including the Travis County trial court and the Third Court of Appeals.

The union argues the rule strips superintendents of statutory control over assignments and guts teachers' right to grieve assignment decisions, offering the example of a teacher reassigned from teaching to an aide role with no real recourse. The state's deputy solicitor general countered that districts aren't forced to sign charter contracts, only choose between that, closure, or a state takeover.

Justices pressed the state on the practical bite of that 'choice,' with one calling it a gun to the head, and got the state to confirm a charter operator could reassign a 25-year veteran science teacher to a campus 20 miles away for an initial assignment, leaving superintendents only theoretically able to reverse it without risking the charter's cooperation.

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