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JERREY ROBERTS

Michael B. Flynn is greeted by students after a program at Norris School in Southampton in 2007 held to honor him for being named 2008 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Flynn is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Monday by the Massachusetts Teachers Association seeking to block a proposed ballot initiative on teacher evaluations.

NORTHAMPTON - Two area public school teachers are part of a lawsuit filed by the state's largest teachers union Monday to stop a proposed ballot initiative on teacher evaluations.

Michael Flynn of Northampton and Wilma Ortiz of Amherst - both former Massachusetts Teachers of the Year - are plaintiffs in a complaint the Massachusetts Teachers Association filed with the state Supreme Judicial Court. The lawsuit asks the court to bar a ballot initiative, proposed by the education accountability group Stand for Children, from appearing on the November ballot.

The nonprofit's "Petition for An Act Promoting Excellence in Public Schools" would require school districts to use model teacher evaluation standards issued by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in decisions on hiring, promoting or dismissing teachers.

The proposal, which has been certified by the state attorney general's office but has not yet been approved for the November ballot, would replace current law that makes teacher evaluation standards a matter for collective bargaining at the local level, or binding arbitration if a school district and union can't agree.

Flynn is a math teacher at William E. Norris School in Southampton and a member of a statewide task force that created new teacher evaluation rules approved by the education board last summer - the first overhaul of teacher performance since 1995. He maintains that Stand for Children's ballot item bypasses a process already under way for implementing those standards.

"The state pulled all the stakeholders together on this and we had many meetings and came up with a new system for evaluating teachers," said Flynn, who is also an at-large member of the Northampton School Committee. "The system hasn't even had time to roll out yet and they want this ballot initiative. It's basically rushing things."

Flynn also echoed arguments made by the teachers union that the Stand for Children initiative is too complex and confusing. He noted that a summary produced by the attorney general's office is four pages long.

"It's not something a voter can make an informed decision on," Flynn said.

Ortiz, who teaches English language learners at Amherst Regional Middle School, did not immediately return phone calls on Monday. But in a statement accompanying the union's announcement of the lawsuit, she said that if the ballot question passes, all the hard work of creating the new teacher evaluation system "will be thrown out the window and districts will be forced to implement an untested new system developed by an outside organization."

Jason Williams, executive director of Stand for Children Massachusetts, said his group is "proud to be leading this effort to ensure that we have great teachers in every classroom."

"It's unfortunate that anyone would try to block voters from having this opportunity to vote on this important issue," he added.

Williams noted that Stand for Children worked closely with labor leaders and the state board of education on the overhaul of rules covering teacher evaluations.

When asked why, given that the state has just launched a new system, the organization felt a ballot initiative was needed, Williams said, "While these evaluations represent a step in the right direction, there is no promise that all school districts will be using them as a benchmark for teacher placement anytime soon."

He said the group's petition will help ensure that teacher evaluations "are based on effectiveness, not simply seniority."

The complaint filed by the teachers union Monday asserts that Stand for Children's ballot proposal violates state constitutional requirements for such petitions because the measure confuses voters by including unrelated matters in one petition and potentially interferes with arbitration. In addition, the suit alleges, the attorney general's summary of the petition is incomplete, in that it fails to "inform the voters of ways in which it impairs teacher collective bargaining rights."

MTA President Paul Toner called the initiative a distraction from "serious, collaborative, ongoing education reform efforts" in the state.

In addition to Flynn and Ortiz, other plaintiffs in the suit, all registered voters in Massachusetts, include the president of the state Parent Teacher Association, a member of the Scituate School Committee, a Boston public school parent, and an expert in teacher education and evaluation.

Now that it has been certified by the attorney general's office, Stand for Children's ballot initiative is slated to come before the Legislature for review in May.