If you want to affect the “disparate impact” in education – the issue that needs to be reviewed by the Supreme Court is the Constitutionality of California’s new education funding law.

I would like to see a case brought in Federal Court that challenges the LCFF law on the grounds that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US COnstitution.

The stated goal of the Local Control Funding Formula is to provide a base level of funding that will provide every student with an adequate education, and then provide additional funding to students who have high needs such as ELL and socioeconomically disadvantaged- the system fails to achieve that stated goal.

The Base Grant is set intentionally low which, by design intentionally deprives every student that happens to live in a wealthy suburban school District of an adequate education irrespective of an individual students wealth, race or ethnicity.

The amount of money that the law distributes to an individual District is based on the wealth of the District’s population and the ethnicity and socioeconomic status of its student population. All suspect classifications requiring strict Judicial scrutiny.

The landmark Supreme Court Case San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriquez, defined when it would be appropriate for a Federal Court to review an individual State’s Education Funding System to determine the constitutionality of that system.

1) In Rodriguez the Court specifically stated a law would be determined to Discriminate on the basis of wealth if all students who, irrespective of their personal incomes, received inadequate funding simply because of where they lived.

2) A Federal Court has proper jurisdiction to review an individual State’s Education funding laws in cases involving laws that interfere with the exercise of fundamental rights and liberties explicitly or implicitly protected by the Constitution.

3) A Federal Court has proper jurisdiction to review an individual State’s Education funding laws to ensure that the law bears a rational relationship to a legitimate State Purpose.

The stated goal of the Local Control Funding Formula is to provide a base level of funding for every student (Base Grant) and then to provide additional funding to students who have high needs such as ELL and socioeconomically disadvantaged (Supplemental Grant and Concentration Grant). However the law does not achieve that result at all. The result is per pupil funding that varies from a low of $6,244 per student to a high of $177,829 per student. The LCFF intentionally underfunds wealthy suburban school districts which in effect deprives any student who happens to live in such a District of an adequate education irrespective of that students personal wealth or income.

Every student in the Capistrano Unified School District is being deprived of their Constitutional right to a basic education simply because they happen to live in a wealthy area.

That is Discrimination as a matter of Law

The State would need to raise the Base Grant to an amount that would provide enough funding to provide a minimum education to every student- not just the poor and ELL in poor districts with high concentrations of ELL

For greater detail see:

http://disclosurecusd.blogspot.com/2015/02/basis-for-law-suit-in-federal-court.html

For damages resulting from this Discrimination
see: http://disclosurecusd.blogspot.com/2014/11/re-research-brief-toward-grand-vision.html

The State of California is intentionally stealing $200 million dollars per year from the students in CUSD and using that money to create new entitlement programs and build High Speed Rail.

The California Constitution requires the State to spend money on a Free and Equal K- 12 Public Education and a State Militia. Money CANNOT be spent on anything else until EVRY student receives a basic education.