Ed Source: West Contra Costa sued over poor building conditions, teacher vacancies

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Ed Source: West Contra Costa sued over poor building conditions, teacher vacancies

July 19, 2024—Ed Source reporter Monica Velez spoke with Law Fellow Karissa Provenza and community partners about the lawsuit they filed against West Contra Costa Unified School District for failing to address poor building conditions, teacher vacancies, and violating the rights of students, particularly Black, low-income, and multilingual learners.

The lawsuit comes after nearly 50 Williams Complaints were submitted to the district over months with limited to no action. It’s the first time a school district has been sued after the landmark Williams v. California settlement in 2004, which established the complaint process, the right to textbooks, clean, safe schools, and qualified teachers for all California public school students, said Karissa Provenza, Public Advocates attorney.

This was re-printed in the Lake County Record-Bee.

EdSource: California judge rejects injunction to halt distributing billions to repair school facilities

For 25+ years, property-wealthy districts have gotten more than double the per-student funding to fix their schools. A judge just said low-wealth families challenging that formula have "some reasonable probability" of winning at trial. Read more.

Lassen County Times: Court declines to pause school facility funds; constitutional challenge to California’s discriminatory system moves forward to trial

"You can't look in the eyes of these kids and make an argument that the facilities that so many of them are being educated in are appropriate."—Governor Newsom A state court just declined to freeze $3 billion in school modernization funds — letting California keep funding a construction formula a judge says raises "serious questions" about its constitutionality. In Lynwood, 60 classrooms leaked last year. In Parlier, the district found $90M in needs but secured just $14M. Trial could come as soon as March 2027. Until then, the inequity keeps compounding

Press Release: Court Declines to Pause School Facility Funds; Constitutional Challenge to California’s Discriminatory System Moves Forward to Trial

"You can't look in the eyes of these kids and make an argument that the facilities that so many of them are being educated in are appropriate." — Governor Newsom A state court just declined to freeze $3 billion in school modernization funds — letting California keep funding a construction formula a judge says raises "serious questions" about its constitutionality. In Lynwood, 60 classrooms leaked last year. In Parlier, the district found $90M in needs but secured just $14M. Trial could come as soon as March 2027. Until then, the inequity keeps compounding.

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