That’s one hell of a costly lesson.
The city could be liable for as much as $455 million in damages after a federal court ruled that a decades-old teacher certification exam discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants.
The ruling in the 16-year-old case stood up the main argument brought by already-working minority teachers that the Department of Education violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by basing employment decisions on an exam whose use had never been validated.
U.S. Southern District Court Justice Kimba Wood also approved the appointment of a monitor to ensure that the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test, or LAST — a certification test that’s still in use statewide — does not continue to discriminate against aspiring teachers.
“This decision makes clear that the city’s use of the LAST both to deny permanent positions to teacher applicants and to cut salaries and benefits of in-service teachers was unlawful,” said Joshua Sohn ,of DLA piper, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney. “The court recognized that the LAST provided no reliable information about the qualifications or abilities of the affected teachers.”
In smaller but significant victories for the city, the judge did not allow the aggrieved teachers — who numbered anywhere from 2,000 to 3,500 at various points in the drawn-out case’s history — to argue for back-pay as one collective unit.
She also dismissed claims that the DOE has misused a prior certification exam known as the Core Battery — which was phased out in 1996.
The teachers will have to file a separate action to seek compensation from the city, something that’s expected to be discussed at a court hearing on January 10, according to Sohn.
A fiscal 2011 DOE annual financial report warned that the city could be on the hook for as much as $455 million if it lost the case.
“The State has advised The City that there are approximately 3,500 members of the class and has calculated potential damages, based on the difference in salary between a certified public school teaching position and an uncertified parochial or private school teaching position, of approximately $455 million,” the annual report reads.
That sum would be more than triple the city’s estimated $128 million tab for pay-outs to minority FDNY applicants stemming from a similar case involving entrance-exam discrimination.
City Law Department officials said it was too soon to assess the accuracy of the figure cited in the financial report, but that it would likely decrease because claims involving the older Core Battery exam were rejected.
“The City is reviewing its options with regard to… portions of the decision,” said the department’s senior counsel, Eamonn Foley.
The judge ruled that the city was liable for using the LAST exam to screen applicants even though the test was created and mandated for use by the state.
The state is in process of creating new certification exams that could be rolled out as early as next year.
As The Post has reported, the move comes in the wake of pass rates of 99 percent for test-takers annually since 2005 on both the LAST and another exam required for certification.