By David Drucker

Daily Bruin Contributor

The American Civil Liberties Union, utilizing a UCLA School of Law study, has sued California for failing to provide public school students with an adequate education.

UCLA Law Professor Gary Blasi examined public schools statewide, and according to his report released last month, they suffer from a crumbling infrastructure, too few textbooks and a significant lack of properly accredited teachers.

Blasi and his research team of 12 law students and faculty also concluded that California lacks the methods of organizational accountability needed to properly remedy the problems uncovered.

“Thus far, people in general have been in favor of holding students, teachers and parents accountable for test scores,” Blasi said.

“Our study is about getting students the tools they need to perform well on those tests,” he added.

Anchoring the ACLU’s legal complaint and the study’s critique is the claim that the state is ignoring its constitutional responsibility to ensure all California children equal access to a basic education.

“The lawsuit has two constitutional bases,” said ACLU Staff Attorney Catherine Lhamon.

“One involves the constitutional right of every California child to an education. Second is that the absence of the minimal conditions which make that education possible denies children their civil rights.”

California’s public schools have come under intense scrutiny lately, as well as the issue of who is accountable for their alleged shortcomings.

While public discussion has focused on teacher effectiveness and financial resources, a coalition of civil rights groups, including the Mexican American Defense League, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and the ACLU have joined together, and used the contents of Blasi’s study to lay the responsibility directly on the state’s shoulders.

“The lawsuit is challenging how the State has administered our schools up until now,” said Doug Stone, a spokesman for the California Department of Education.

Stone could not discuss specifics about the CDE’s position because the Department was named a co-defendant in the lawsuit along with the State, the State Board of Education, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin.

“The lawsuit is asking the state to intercede into areas that we previously haven’t been involved in,” Stone said.

But according to Blasi’s study, the state’s lack of involvement is indicative of the problem: “Most surprising to us were the results of our investigation of the system of accountability that govern all public schools, good and bad,” said the study in its Executive Summary.

“What we found was a patchwork of rules and regulations, a patchwork comprised almost entirely of holes,” the study continued.

The study goes on to explain that “no one” is held accountable for the fact that students attend schools characterized by “slum conditions,” including the lack of heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, non-functioning toilets, and leaky roofs, to name a few.

“There’s a tremendous amount of literature relating to the significance of temperature in a classroom and education,” Blasi said.

“Once outside the range of 68 to 80 degrees, (temperature) has a negative effect on grades,” he added.

Blasi commented that reasons for the dysfunction varied from district to district, but noted that “by and large, the State lacks money.”

He mentioned, though, that some apparently well-run districts actually suffered from the same poor conditions as the ones where the problems were more obvious.

But Lhamon had a slightly different view.

“I think that the lack of management may be more significant than the lack of funds,” she said.

Stating one of the objectives of the lawsuit, Lhamon added, “We want the State to set up a system of accountability so that when problems occur, parents and students will be able to get them remedied in the short term.”

Blasi also underscored the state’s importance in this system of accountability.

“I think accountability is a good idea, but it means holding everybody accountable for the role they play in the system.”