California Settlement Yielding School Improvements

The settlement of a lawsuit focused on basic learning conditions in California’s schools is resulting in significant improvements, according to a new report from two of the organizations that filed the lawsuit .

After two full years of implementation of what is known as the Williams settlement legislation, students have received more than 88,000 new textbooks and other teaching materials, and more than 3,400 emergency repairs have been paid for with state money. Such upgrades also are helping attract and retain qualified teachers, says the report, which was slated for release Aug. 12 by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and by Public Advocates, two of the three civil rights groups that filed the litigation in 2000.

According to the report, which reflects changes occurring during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years, “teaching and learning conditions in California’s public school classrooms have materially improved as a direct result of the Williams ...