A California judge declared that the state's teacher tenure laws that govern the hiring and firing of teachers are unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Rolf Treu overturned the five key laws and sided with the plaintiffs, which consisted of nine students, education reform advocates and a major law firm. They argued that the law hurts students, keeps bad teachers in the classroom and drives out excellent new teachers from the classroom too soon. In addition, they said that the laws infringe on students' rights to an equal public education.

According to Judge Treu, the five rules "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' fundamental right to equality of education and that they impose a disproportionate burden on poor and minority students."

The California decision in Vergara v. California is being called a landmark ruling since it is the first time that a court has declared teacher tenure and related job guarantees unconstitutional, said William Koski, director of the Youth and Education Law Project at Stanford University, according to the Associated Press.

The rules include a tenure law that evaluates a teacher's competence for permanent employment after only 18 months on the job, mandates costly and lengthy procedures for teacher dismissals and uses seniority as the sole basis to make decisions about layoffs and reassignment.

If upheld, legal and education analysts agree that the ruling may have a rippling effect in teacher's unions across the nation.

In response, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the ruling as a "mandate to fix" fundamental problems affecting the nation's education system.

"The students who brought this lawsuit are, unfortunately, just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students," said Secretary Duncan in a statement, reports CSmonitor.com.

He added: "This decision presents an opportunity for a progressive state with a tradition of innovation to build a new framework for the teaching profession that protects students' rights to equal educational opportunities while providing teachers the support, respect and rewarding careers they deserve."

However, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has promised to fight the ruling in court and pointed out that the decision ignores inadequate funding.

"While this decision is not unexpected, the rhetoric and lack of a thorough, reasoned opinion is disturbing," AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement.

"[The judge] argues, as we do, that no one should tolerate bad teachers in the classroom. He is right on that," Ms. Weingarten said. "But in focusing on these teachers who make up a fraction of the workforce, he strips the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are doing a good job of any right to a voice. ... It's surprising that the court, which used its bully pulpit when it came to criticizing teacher protections, did not spend one second discussing funding inequities, school segregation, high poverty or any other out-of-school or in-school factors that are proven to affect student achievement and our children."