This month, a state court of appeal will hear arguments in two long-delayed lawsuits, filed during the economic recession six years ago, charging that the state violated children’s constitutional rights by underfunding education.
The lawsuits were big news at the time because of the cross-section of plaintiffs behind them. Robles-Wong et al v. California was jointly filed by the California School Boards Association, the state PTA, the Association of California School Administrators, the California Teachers Association, and the Youth & Education Law Project at Stanford Law School, representing low-income children.
The other, Campaign for Quality Education v. California, was filed by Public Advocates Inc., on behalf of five nonprofits serving low-income, minority families
Public Advocates Managing Attorney John Affeldt is quoted in the article:
“…says John Affleldt, managing attorney for Public Advocates, the plaintiff in the Campaign for Quality Education lawsuit, the “underlying argument remains the same.” When the Local Control Funding Formula is fully funded, projected to happen in 2020-21, many districts will reach only pre-recession funding levels of 2007-08. California remains at or near the bottom of the 50 states in per-student staffing levels for teachers, counselors and administrators, he said.
