California sued because too many kids can't read, group says
SAN DIEGO -- A group of prominent lawyers representing teachers and students from poor-performing schools is suing California because so many schoolchildren do not know how to read and they argue the state has done nothing about it. The advocacy law firm, Public Counsel, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court to demand the California Department of Education respond to its "literacy crisis" and implement recommendations to address the problem that were proposed in the state's own report five years ago.
"When it comes to literacy and the delivery of basic education, California is dragging down the nation," said Public Counsel lawyer Mark Rosenbaum, who filed the lawsuit along with the law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Department spokesman Bill Ainsworth said officials could not comment because the state had not yet been served.
Statewide English assessments found less than half of California students from third grade to fifth grade have met statewide literacy standards since 2015.
Both traditional and charter schools are failing, Rosenbaum said.
Among the plaintiffs are current and former teachers and students from three of California's lowest-performing schools -- La Salle Avenue Elementary School, in Los Angeles; Children of Promise Preparatory Academy, a charter school in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood; and Van Buren Elementary School, in Stockton in central California.
One of the plaintiffs is an 11-year-old student identified only as Katie T. According to the lawsuit, when she completed fifth grade at La Salle she was at the reading level of a student just starting third grade and was given no meaningful help.
State assessments found 96 percent of students at the school were not proficient in English or math, according to the lawsuit.
David Moch, a retired teacher who taught at La Salle for 18 years, said he had fifth graders in his kindergarten class.
Teachers were not given training or help to deal with the situation and programs that did seem to make a dent were then discontinued, Moch said.
"I chose to teach at LaSalle because I wanted to help," he said. "Every day I was there, I witnessed students' lack of access to literacy."
