A new study has found that California’s lowest-performing schools are improving as a result of the 2004 settlement of Williams v. California, an ACLU lawsuit targeting the poor conditions of our state’s schools. Schools are repairing their facilities, hiring and retaining qualified teachers, and providing textbooks to more students.

In 2004, the ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of thousands of California’s public school students who were denied equal educational opportunity. The settlement called for California’s public schools to be clean and safe, to have qualified teachers, and to provide all students with textbooks and instructional materials.

The recent report by UCLA researchers examines the impact of the settlement during the first two years of implementation, from 2004-2006, and finds positive results in the four regions examined (Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, the Greater Bay Area, and the Central Valley) and in California as a whole. For instance, students received 88,000 new textbooks as a result of superintendents conducting Williams site visits and discovering that many students lacked textbooks. Administrators also reported that almost 3,000 emergency repairs have been funded. These textbook and facility improvements are also helping schools to attract and retain qualified teachers.

For more information, please see the full report and North County Times article below.

North County Times Article

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/13/news/state/81207124210.txt

ACLU Williams v. California Webpage

https://www.aclusandiego.org/issues_item.php?cat_id_sel=001&sub_cat_sel=000013&article_id=000130