This is a proceeding for mandate brought by four teachers seeking to compel the West Contra Costa Unified School District (District) to alter its practices for putting teachers in specified schools in the District, and to direct the District to comply with the statutory scheme governing the subject. At trial, the issue quickly became reframed as whether the District had established that compliance with the relevant statutes made it impossible to put enough qualified teachers in classrooms, thus excusing the District’s non-compliance. The trial court answered this question in the District’s favor.
We conclude the ruling must be set aside because the District failed to establish that it had unsuccessfully tried to comply with all of the governing statutory procedures for filling teacher vacancies. Unless and until the District carries that burden, it is premature to consider whether the doctrine of impossibility will excuse the District’s non-compliance with those procedures.
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