For Immediate Release
October 8, 2021
Contact: Isabel Alegria, ialegria@publicadvocates.org, 510-541-5428
Newsom Signs Bill Creating New List of 2,000 Schools For Annual Inspection Required by Historic Williams Lawsuit
Sacramento – Civil rights advocates are cheering Governor Newson’s signing of AB 599 (Jones-Sawyer)—a long-awaited revamp of how California ensures its lowest-performing schools provide basic educational necessities to all students. Since a settlement was reached in 2004, the State’s county offices of education have annually inspected approximately 2,000 of the lowest performing public schools to ensure every student has sufficient, up-to-date instructional materials, facilities are in good repair and teachers are properly certified. The list of schools was supposed to be updated every three years but has been frozen in place since 2014 when the State stopped using the achievement test that was used to construct it. The new legislation creates the annual inspections list every three years from schools that are identified as needing support under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and schools where 15% or more of the teachers are not fully credentialed.
This is a victory for students and for all those that joined the historic Williams v. State of California class action lawsuit headed by the ACLU, Public Advocates and the Morrison & Foerster law firm. That suit claimed that the State was denying over a million children their fundamental right to an education under the California Constitution by subjecting them to schools with substandard conditions. Public Advocates and the ACLU, who praised today’s bill signing:
“Though conditions have improved as a result of the settlement, problems persist, and it’s as critical as ever that the State update the accountability mechanisms Williams created for ensuring all students have access to decent facilities, quality teachers and instructional materials. We’re especially pleased to see the added scrutiny being given to schools with high numbers of underprepared teachers using new data that has only recently come online,” said Public Advocates Legislative Counsel Erin Apte. “Teacher quality is the single most important school indicator of student academic outcomes and success, and we’re seeing the pandemic exacerbate teacher shortages.”
“California’s students can’t learn unless their school buildings are clean and functional, their teachers are qualified, and they have access to books and other instructional materials. AB 599 will make sure that the schools that aren’t providing these basics are identified, and the problems addressed so that all of California’s students will get what they need to learn and thrive,” said Kathy Sher, ACLU California Action Legislative Attorney.
California has the resources to invest in a racially-just school system where every student can thrive. AB 599 is key to that vision because it ensures that the state can identify and provide support to schools that need it the most.
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