Summary:

Students in California’s low-wealth communities learn in buildings with toxic mold, failing HVAC systems, leaking roofs, and classrooms that reach 85 degrees. Meanwhile, wealthier districts build state-of-the-art schools. This isn’t an accident — it’s the predictable result of a funding formula that rewards wealth and punishes poverty. Public Advocates and Morrison Foerster are in court to change it.

Fighting for Equal school facilities: Miliani Rodriguez V. The State of California

On October 23, 2025, Public Advocates and pro bono counsel Morrison & Foerster filed a landmark constitutional challenge on behalf of students, families, and educators against the State of California for operating a discriminatory school facilities funding system.

California’s School Facility Program requires districts to raise 40% of modernization costs locally before accessing a 60% state match regardless of the wealth of the district. The result: wealthy districts, who are able to raise more local funds, get more money from the state to fix their schools, and move to the front of the line. Low-wealth districts — with greater needs and less taxable property — are left behind. Rather than redressing local wealth disparities, the state’s uniform match makes them worse.The lawsuit alleges the program violates the California Constitution’s guarantee of education as a fundamental right and its prohibition on wealth-based discrimination in educational opportunity. It mirrors the landmark Serrano v. Priest case — also brought by Public Advocates — which struck down wealth-based discrimination in school operating funding 50 years ago.

Who We Represent:

True North Organizing Network, Alianza Coachella Valley, and Inland Congregations United for Change are our organizational plaintiffs, advocating on behalf of their members across the state who live in low-wealth districts and are subject to these conditions.

What we’re asking for:

• A court order halting further distribution of Prop 2 modernization funds under the current formula pending resolution of the case
• A reformed system that provides more state funding to low-wealth districts (a sliding scale inversely tied to local property wealth) An end to the first-come, first-served application process that advantages districts with more administrative capacity and resources

legal documents