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CALIFORNIA'S POOREST SCHOOLS GET HELP
It took over four years for the State of California to decide it must step up to its constitutional and moral obligation to children and end discriminatory practices within district schools and provide the bare essentials of an education.
The Williams v. California effort is one of the largest ACLU/SC lawsuits to date. The settlement, detailed on page 5 (of the Annual Report), requires the legislature to immediately develop an accountability infrastructure necessary to ensure students are provided with the critical basics for education: clean and safe schools, updated textbooks and qualified teachers.
This wasn't a high-concept fight difficult for people to wrap their heads around. Williams is the direct application of the core ACLU mission put in action: to claim the rights and improve the lives of the powerless.
"This settlement will bring real results to the millions of school children in California who are not being given a fair shot at a decent education," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU/SC.
It was the lives behind the Williams case that touched Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU/SC legal director. Education is the critical element determining a child's ability to develop skills needed for life, as well as a successful entry into the workforce. By forcing students to try and learn in a degraded environment, California's officials are depriving youth of the very thing they need to one day earn a decent standard of living and, later, fully contribute to society.
"This is about the future of all California's children," Rosenbaum said. "Without adequate resources, without the decent educational foundation the state is obligated to provide, these children were being flung into the world without the tools they needed to get a fair and just start. Public education is the democratizing institution of our culture. Unequal opportunities afforded poor children and children of color separated the haves and have-nots in our state."
It is because of the generous member support that the ACLU/SC was able to bring Williams v. California and continue its work to secure the rights of equal protection.
Lead plaintiff Eli Williams, pictured on the cover with Gov. Scwarzenegger, said going through the case was a great experience. And while he was very excited to meet the state's leader, the 16-year-old aspiring cinematographer isn't so dazzled by star power that he's going to let anyone off the hook as the details required by Williams are implemented.
"The Governor made a promise," Eli said. "He said it would happen this year, not next year or the year after. So believe me, if he doesn't come through I'm going to be on his case."
