APLUS, the committee in support of Measure E, announced its support of the AUSD announcement today, that along with eight other school districts and three major education groups, it is suing the state of California for failing to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide a good education to all California children.
This announcement, which came nearly three years after AUSD employees began voluntarily working on legal strategies to correct inequities in the the state’s public education financing system, is an exciting next step in challenging the way California governs and finances public education.
Like the pivotal Serrano v. Priest case, however, which addressed fundamental inequities in the state’s financing of school districts, this legal battle is likely to last for close to a decade, making the passage of Measure E even more pressing. “Alamedans have been asking AUSD to tackle state issues, and today they announced a big step forward,” said APLUS Chair, Carla Greathouse, “But with such a long timeline for success, it’s incredibly important for Alameda to support Measure E and our schools.”
Greathouse stressed that it would be a tragedy to sacrifice a generation of kids’ education waiting for this litigation to wend its way through the courts. “Children entering kindergarten this year will be close to graduating from high school before this is over.” Others were ebullient about the district’s ability to tackle such a complex strategy while their budgets continue to shrink. “
The district’s legal representation is being donated pro bono,” says John Knox White, a volunteer with APLUS, “The fact that AUSD is a part of a historic lawsuit that will be tackling long-term funding issues this way is yet another example of the fiscally responsible way that this district is managing its tight resources.”
