California Teachers Ass'n v. Vallejo City Unified School District

This appeal raises two interrelated questions: May teachers who serve under provisional credentials be classified as “probationary” for purposes of the Education Code? 1 And, if so, are such provisionally credentialed teachers entitled to the statutory layoff rights the Code provides to fully credentialed probationary teachers?

As part of a districtwide reduction in work force, on March 11, 2004, the Vallejo City Unified School District (District) sent a letter to 214 certificated employees—i.e., teachers (see § 44831; Kavanaugh v. West Sonoma County Union High School Dist. (2003) 29 Cal.4th 911, 917 [ 129 Cal.Rptr.2d 811 , 62 P.3d 54 ] (Kavanaugh))—notifying them of impending layoffs and advising them of their right to request a hearing to determine if the District’s decision to terminate their employment was supported by cause. After calculating exactly how many positions it needed to eliminate, the District sent a letter to many teachers rescinding the prior notice and stating their employment would not be terminated after all. At the same time, on April 12, 2004, the District sent a letter to 43 teachers that rescinded the prior layoff notice but nevertheless…