DENVER (AP) – The Colorado Education Association plans to announce today it will take legal and legislative action against a provision in the state’s teacher-effectiveness law that could leave qualified educators jobless.

A provision in the 2010 education-reform law gives teachers displaced for reasons including budget cuts, enrollment drops or the turnaround process at low-performing schools a year to find a job under the state’s “mutual consent” provision. It requires agreement by the teacher and the principal before filling a position at a school.

Denver Public Schools and the CEA have been battling over the district’s implementation of the mutual-consent provision. Teachers in DPS who cannot find such a job are placed on unpaid leave.

Union officials said Wednesday’s announcement will serve to “correct proven flaws” in the mutual-consent provision – but would not comment further. The announcement is set for a 1 p.m. meeting at the CEA headquarters.

DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg defends the district’s implementation of the provision. He said the old system required the district to forcibly place teachers on campuses and did not give principals the flexibility to pick the teams best fitting the needs of students at the school.

“Forced placement of teachers is wrong,” Boasberg said. “It’s wrong for students, it’s wrong for teachers and it’s wrong for schools. Nobody benefits when a teacher is placed in a school that does not want them.”

The law, passed as Senate Bill 191, also implemented a new teacher-evaluation process, basing it on supervisor reviews as well as student growth as measured by standardized tests and other factors.