California's Student Lawsuit Exposes Education Disparities in America's Classrooms

Rarely do education-related lawsuits hit so close to home for me personally and professionally. But the lawsuit filed last week by over 60 students and several education organizations (Robles-Wong v. CA) against the State of California and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is one that strikes a particularly resounding chord.

As a former California educator for nearly 30 years, it is inspiring to witness the newfound courage among students of my state in challenging California's inequitable education system. Their goal is to compel California to study the actual costs of providing education services to "all children with all needs."

On the need for this, I couldn't agree more. California is falling far short of providing each child with the education he/she deserves. The lawsuit calls for the complete transformation of California's finance system -- a reform effort similar to the one I championed in this Congress when I created the Educational Opportunity and Equity Commission, now housed within the U.S. Department of Education and readying its rollout.

The Commission's intent, by initiating a national dialogue on the topic of educational equity, is to ferret out a fix for the Californias of our country. I fought hard to establish it because our education finance structure is outdated and relies on factors like average daily attendance, average costs for "regular" students, and concentrations of low-income, special-education and English-language-learner students. Outdated systems like California's are inexcusable in an economically recessed nation falling behind globally.

California's case is demonstrative of a problem that persists nationally. The plaintiffs in Robles-Wong v CA claim that California has created a pattern of disparities that fails many of our children, some more than others, by not documenting the costs of delivering the constitutionally-required education program. Robles-Wong v. CA concludes that the state's education finance system is irrational, unstable, unpredictable, and has made no attempt to align funding policies and mechanisms. Sadly, California is not alone. Most states, in fact, struggle with similar disparities.

If California wants to correct its incoherency, and quickly, it first needs to conduct an analysis of all physical and personnel costs associated with schooling in order to meet state-prescribed standards. Secondly, it must conduct an analysis of the costs associated with varying learning needs of each student. Thirdly, it must develop an education finance system that is based on the actual costs for both schooling and student needs.

Rep Michael Honda (CA-15) is a former teacher, principal and school board member and serves on the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

 

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Comments

[ochowalo8]

07:56 PM on 05/30/2010

But just based on my experience, I spent 2 yrs in a public high school in Manila, Philippines, where I had to fight getting in front seats with 67 other individuals who wanted to learn as much as I do, and to be honest, I learned more back in Philippines than here, where I spent 4 yrs in a public high school as well, and was so horrified that kids only had to be at school for 6 hours. I had be at school from 7am until 5pm back in Manila, whereas, here in California, I only had to be at school from 9am until 3pm...

Back in Manila, I never knew anything about "cheat cheat notes," or "open book exam,"...

kids just got it way too easy here, and yes, the education system kind of S***ks. =(

[Lenny25]

04:50 PM on 05/27/2010

Our public education system is designed to do precisely what it is doing, a recreation of the status quo social order. In Los Angeles over 90% of Whites that remain within the boundaries of LAUSD have opted to put their children in private or parochial schools and leave the totally failed and seemingly unaccountable LAUSD administration and bureaucracy above basic legal notions of fiduciary duty or equitable treatment of students and teachers.

All supposed educational reform leaves entities like LAUSD intact in much the same way we have seen Wall Street, the banks, heath insurers, and now BP above the law with the mind boggling canard of their being too big to fail. Whatever happened to basic notions of fair play under law and majority rules?

At www.perdaily.com we are committed to talking about what is really going on in public education with an eye on finally holding the people who run critical institutions like public education responsible. Why is it that all reform leaves LAUSD intact? Come to www.perdaily.com and learn about reality that is never reported in the L.A. Times, share what you know, and organize to bring an end to a self-serving public education bureaucracy that is condemning our society to decline.

[SF TKF]

10:54 AM on 05/27/2010

It's not about the funding, it's about the students. Too many of them have parents who are not involved, do not stress the value of education, and do not deliver the structure and discipline that children need to be successful students.

Teachers can only do so much, and when they’re asked to parent at well as teach—as so many are—that leaves less time and energy for education. The constant interruptions of “mainstreamed” students with severe developmental problems only compounds this problem, and the extreme numbers of students with families on the brink finically exacerbates everything.

[Jay Mack]

01:54 AM on 05/27/2010

We need school vouchers now! The kids in poor areas are trapped in the worst sort of "schools", mismanaged institutions when you're more likely to get shot than to learn the basics of American history. The teacher's unions have held these kids captive for long enough. They are more than a paycheck for a union hack. They are children with a future, if we let them learn.

[oregon bird]

11:54 PM on 05/26/2010

California is complaining that they didn't get the hundreds of millions in federal education funds they wanted. What did they want those funds for? STUDIES OF THEIR EDUCATION SYSTEM. Not a penny would have gone for actual education.

Start your own schools, parents. California is NOT going to educate your children.

[Lorianne]

11:05 PM on 05/26/2010

We spend more per student than Japan where students typically are much better educated.
In fact we spend more per student than most Eupean countries
Where is the value?

http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs/eiip/eiipid43.asp

[Lorianne]

11:00 PM on 05/26/2010

100,000 teachers nationwide face layoffs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052604209.html

Where is the money going to come from Mike?

[been2there]

10:14 PM on 05/26/2010

Education is expensive because it requires a lot of time and individual effort. Teachers, who are often used as scapegoats, work long hours for relatively lousy pay. The real problem, however, is that students do not value education and do not work. They do not value education because their parents don't, and their parents don't because society doesn't. Education--at least good education--requires participants to leave their comfort zones. Many families resist a child adopting new attitudes or learning new facts, and the ones who suffer most are, as ususal, the poorest.

[Lorianne]

11:04 PM on 05/26/2010

We spend more per student than Japan where students typically are much better educated.
In fact we spend more per student than most Eupean countries
Where is the value?

http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs/eiip/eiipid43.asp

[SF TKF]

10:48 AM on 05/27/2010

Parents in Japan value education and instill discipline in their children. Children here in America who are lucky enough to have parents who do the same thrive in public schools just like their counterparts elsewhere in the world.

[mramsterdam]

07:34 PM on 05/26/2010

First, regarding California's "inequitable education system," I don't think that we can make it completely equitable for every student in California. Second, this accounting of costs you are asking for is next to impossible, and will take so much effort, money, paperwork, and bureaucracy, that it will become a bottomless money-pit all by itself. Of course, state money will have to pay for this accounting process. As far as transforming California's finance system, it will make the U. S. Census look like a bowl of cherries. Let's try to work in the system, let's try to fix what we have, not throw everything out and start over.

[thumbtax]

05:45 PM on 05/26/2010

The last thing we need right now is further bureaucratic, expensive studies to determine "fair" funding levels. What one considers "fair" is usually determined by their own personal reality. There is not an infinite supply of money or resources. I do not want to ignore or hurt these children that need our help, but we can not ignore the needs of the majority of other children either.

There is no doubt that the costs to educate a special needs child exceeds that of a normal, functioning child. But should it be the job of the school system to deal with severely handicapped children? I think an initial evaluation has to be done to determine whether an individual can be educated and can be a functioning adult later in life. If the answer is no, then the child needs to be removed from the school system and placed into a more appropriate situation.

[mountainweb]

05:34 PM on 05/26/2010

"parity" is not the real burning issue, the real issue is teaching students the right information so that when they get out of school, they can read. Lower the standards to the lowest common denominator will NEVER allow the students to compete in the global environment.

[Cheryl2]

03:32 PM on 05/26/2010

People outside the education system do not understand that all students must be accomodated and provided with what they need to learn. They do not understand that all students are entitled to a free appropriate education and what the costs involved are. The school where I works, we have to have a number of nurses on staff to provide medical treatments and tube feedings. We have a number of students so mentally ill they need an assistant with them at all times to keep them from harming other students. The problems we see today are more severe and the public schools must accomodate this and pay for it. People complain about the costs not really realizing that school funding pays for students who may need 5, 6 or 7 professionals to provide them services during the school day, mandated by the government. Yes, those children are entitled to an education, but the costs must also be factored in, not just ignored and told they must be paid for regardless of the funds available.

[been2there]

10:18 PM on 05/26/2010

The schools failed my children miserable--they are classed as "severely gifted." I home schooled because while I would have won a suit, the money would have come from other children's backs and left me with the problem of finding a program suitable for mine. There is a hidden cost in the growing move to home school, however; the parents willing to home school used to be the classroom volunteers. Now the teachers are dealing with more concentrated problems and fewer resources. In some classes, the teacher is so busy preventing mayhem that teaching is only a dream.

[trish333]

10:47 PM on 05/26/2010

Nothing is "free". Someone, somewhere must pay the costs. Your entitlement mentality will be the undoing of our society and is already bankrupting America. It is complete insanity to expect the taxpayer to provide 7 professionals to attend to a single child and full time medical attention. Every American is entitled to opportunity not outcome. We've reached a fiscal breaking point and you still want more?

[Cheryl2]

08:53 AM on 05/27/2010

It is free to the student, not the schools or taxpayers. It is not "my entitlement mentality", it is the way the system is set up in America. How can we say only certian people are to be allowed to get an education? The courts have set up the expectation that public schools would pay for all treatments needed to allow students to attend school, not me. I think you need to learn more about the issue and America, as I said, people do not understand the education system and the costs involved.