ACLU Targets Textbooks in Education Suit
The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a motion in San Francisco Superior Court asking that an outside expert be appointed to conduct a survey of textbook availability in California classrooms.
The motion is part of a broader lawsuit filed in May by civil rights groups alleging that the state denies tens of thousands of minority students an equal educational opportunity by allowing them to attend substandard schools that lack textbooks, trained teachers and up-to-date facilities.
Such conditions violate requirements in the California Constitution that the state offer all students a free and equal public education, the suit alleges.
At a news conference Tuesday, ACLU attorneys said that 36 of 46 schools named in the lawsuit experience textbook shortages, including several campuses in Los Angeles.
The state disburses money to school districts so that individual campuses can buy books. A spokesman for the state Department of Education said that, under current state law, the responsibility for ensuring adequate supplies of books lies with local districts.
The motion, which asks that the survey be conducted in the current semester, is expected to be heard in court Oct. 4.
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