State high court dismisses taxpayer’s suit over Minneapolis protections for teachers of color

From Sahan Journal:

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a Minneapolis taxpayer does not have standing to challenge a provision in the Minneapolis Public Schools teacher union contract aimed at protecting teachers of color during layoffs.

But Tom Fitton, the president of Washington, D.C.-based conservative legal group Judicial Watch, which represented the taxpayer in this case, blasted the “woke, racially discriminatory contract”  and said his group would ask President-elect Donald Trump to investigate it as a “blatant civil rights violation.”

“The Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to reverse the Court of Appeals ruling is beyond the pale,” he said. “Minneapolis Public Schools is unabashedly discriminating against teachers based on their race, and the school district is using taxpayer dollars to do so. The Minnesota Supreme Court’s disgraceful decision not only threatens teachers’ jobs but also prevents Minnesota taxpayers (present and future) from holding their government to account.”

Judicial Watch sued the school district in August 2022 on behalf of Minneapolis homeowner Deborah Clapp. In the lawsuit, Clapp alleged that the contract’s provision to protect underrepresented teachers during Minneapolis Public Schools’ layoff process was illegal, and that her taxpayer dollars were helping to pay for it.

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