SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A court settlement announced Thursday by the Schwarzenegger administration promises to bring school fees in California to an end.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued the state in September, saying the fees violated the state constitutional guarantee of free and equal public education."We had students where actually there name was put on the board for not being able to afford the textbook," Allen Brooks with the ACLU said.
The group said Folsom High School has been charging $20 to $35 for art supplies, and Colfax High School charges an athletic fee between $150 and $550.
"The governor believes that California's public education should be a free public education. And when we're charging illegal fees to students, that's not a free public education," Andrea McCarthy, the governor's spokesperson, said...
As a reminder, here is the excellent Whitman High School student news story on the illegal curricular fees charged in Montgomery County Public Schools.
Included in this news story is video of the lists of the names of students who have not paid fees on the Whitman High School hallway wall. Student names are posted to humiliate and bully students into paying illegal fees in Montgomery County too. Watch as Board of Education member Shirley Brandman says she doesn't know anything about the posting of student names at her local school.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a stand on behalf of public school children.
When will Governor Martin O'Malley step up to the plate and speak up for public school children in Maryland? Maybe Maryland doesn't include Montgomery County?
better question...where is the MD ACLU???
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