NYT: Public Schools Face Lawsuit over Fees

Yesterday's New York Times had a great article on a situation in California eerily similar to that of our own Montgomery County, Maryland.  In California, however, the ACLU is suing 35 school districts in California that " list on their Web sites the fees their schools charge for courses including art, home economics, and music, for Advanced Placement tests and for materials including gym uniforms."  According to Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU's legal director in Southern California, "We found that the charging of fees for required academic courses is rampant."  The lawsuit names Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger as a defendent "arguing that it was his responsibility to crack down on school districts imposing illegal feels."

"The idea of educating every child at public expense ranks with political democracy as one of the United States’ great original social contributions,” said Mark Rosenbaum, Chief Counsel of ACLU/SC. “Each of these ideas rests on a hallowed belief that every child is capable of reaching his or her fullest potential only when we encourage and honor accomplishment based on merit and hard work and disavow class distinctions.”

Read the entire filing here:

555793 ACLU Full Complaint