Why the ACLU rocks
Quote of note:
The Williams case grew out of California's chronic lack of textbooks and supplies in many schools, as well as crumbling buildings and freezing classrooms where mice and rats sometimes scurried across the floor. Asked why they sued instead of seeking a legislative solution, ACLU attorneys Mark Rosenbaum and Catherine Lhamon have repeatedly said that lawmakers turned a deaf ear to the persistent problems.
Landmark education case a big win for kids
1 million low-income students get equal access to good schools and textbooks
- Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and attorneys representing 1 million low-income students have reached an agreement in a landmark education case they say will ensure equal access to good schools and textbooks for the first time in state history.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the state in 2000 on behalf of low-income students, is hailing the agreement as a "watershed moment in public education.''
It will give all students a clear procedure to demand -- and receive -- clean, well-stocked schools and qualified teachers, attorneys for the ACLU said Tuesday.
But some state and local educators, while welcoming the agreement, said it involved too much bureaucracy and too few dollars.
…Much of the new agreement focuses on students in the 2,400 lowest-scoring schools throughout the state -- those ranking 1, 2 or 3 on the state's 10-point scale of academic performance.
In addition to $138 million already set aside in the current state budget to give those schools extra books and other instructional materials, the plan earmarks $50 million to assess and make emergency repairs at those schools.
That money comes from so-called reversion funds -- money unspent at the end of the school year that typically is put back into the education budget for the next year. The agreement also promises that the state will use future reversion funds to reimburse the schools for any other repairs they need to make.
