More equity in state's schoolsReport finds some improvements have been made at poor campuses after lawsuit.08/12/07 06:16:59Spurred on by a court case, the state three years ago agreed to address the disgraceful conditions in schools in California's poorest neighborhoods. Now it appears the state has made good progress in fixing decrepit facilities and providing needed instructional materials.

Education is difficult enough in schools where there are language barriers and children coming from families that don't have the economic advantages of upscale neighborhoods. But the Williams case found that these problems were compounded by a learning environment that didn't measure up to that offered more affluent students.

A report just released by the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Advocates says "teaching and learning conditions in California's public school classrooms have materially improved as a direct result of the Williams standards and accountability systems." One example is students received 88,000 new textbooks and instructional materials because county school superintendents found them to be unavailable during oversight visits.

While progress was made throughout the state, textbook availability in the Central Valley ran behind other regions, according to the report. Valley education leaders must push to give our children the same opportunities afforded other parts of the state.

But overall, access to instructional materials improved in this region under the Williams settlement. "As one administrator's comments illustrate, Williams implementation has helped identify not only where books are missing, but also where they may have been misplaced because the tracking and distribution systems were flawed," the report says.

The Williams case also found that schools in poor neighborhoods had more teachers without required credentials. That has also improved. "Public school students in the Central Valley have increased access to appropriately certificated and assigned teachers since the enactment of the Williams legislation," the report says.

While school officials contend that a lack of money caused the problems, there was a clear pattern of most of the problem schools being attended by children from poor and minority families. There may not have been enough money to go around, but what they had went to the affluent schools.

It took the ACLU to file suit to change that practice. The suit began in San Francisco when the father of Eli Williams decided to do something about the terrible conditions at his son's school. Eli became the lead plaintiff and then other school districts around the state, including Fresno Unified School District, were named as defendants.

The case was so overwhelming that the state stopped fighting it in court and agreed to settle. The legislation implementing the Williams settlement has brought the progress we see today.

There is still much to do to give every California student an equal opportunity at a quality education. But the Williams settlement is a good start, and we should celebrate the progress that's been made.
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It's hard to teach kids who have no desire to work, or speak english for that matter.