None of us would want our child or sibling to attend a school that fails to provide even the most basic classes needed to earn a degree and gain access to college. Yet that is exactly what was happening at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles.

Today, a judge stepped in to address this ongoing crisis, ordering the State of California and state education officials to intervene so students at Jefferson don’t lose even more learning time. The order in Cruz v. State of California requires state officials to work with the district to develop a plan to identify students who are assigned to these faux classes, allow them to enroll in alternate classes with curricular content that will allow them to meet graduation or college access requirements, and have a system to ensure they can catch up on what they’ve already missed. The plan is due by October 16.
The ACLU Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal), Public Counsel and the law firms Carlton Fields Jorden Burt and Arnold & Porter LLP asked the court to intervene because the situation at Jefferson High School is dire. Consider, for example, that nearly two months into the school year, many students still don’t have complete schedules. Others are assigned to classes they have already taken and passed. Others are enrolled in “service classes” where they sit in the library or file papers in the office and receive no instruction. Others are simply sent home as early as 11:20 in the morning for something called “home period.”

Sadly, the crisis is not limited to Jefferson High School. That’s why we filed Cruz, to address the systemic problems that for too long have consistently delivered less instruction time to students in low-income communities and often left some students shut out of the classes they need, effectively providing only a partial opportunity to learn, earn a degree and go on to college.

Today’s ruling is a victory for the students at Jefferson, who want to learn but aren’t being given the opportunity to do so. It also affirms that the state is ultimately responsible for ensuring that students have an equal chance to succeed in school and can’t sit idly by while students are at risk of losing an entire year of education through no fault of their own.

David Sapp is director of education advocacy/legal counsel at the ACLU of Southern California. Follow ACLU SOCal on Twitter.

This was another banner year in Sacramento for the ACLU of California, our coalition partners and our members! The governor signed 14 of the 19 proposed laws we played a major part in getting to his desk. Although he vetoed legislation that would have protected and advanced civil liberties in our state, the governor also signed into law several critical priority bills of the ACLU of California.

The governor signed historic education, immigration and racial justice legislation this year that the ACLU of California sponsored with powerful coalitions.

• AB 420 (Dickinson) will eliminate the most extreme uses of harsh discipline under the category of "willful defiance.”
• SB 1159 (Lara) will ensure eligible applicants receive professional licenses regardless of their immigration status.
• SB 1010 (Mitchell) will end the discrepancies between sentencing, probation, and asset forfeiture for two forms of the same drug– powder cocaine and crack cocaine – that have resulted in a pattern of racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration in California.

Governor Brown’s signature on SB 1159 and AB 420 represents a huge step forward for immigrants and for students in California. And his signature on SB 1010 reflects growing political support in California to do what’s right and finally end racially unjust drug war policies.

The enactment of these and other laws places our state at the front of the pack. We are leading meaningful advancements in civil liberties, just as other states turn in the opposition direction. Other key pieces of legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by the ACLU of California include:

• SB 1111 (Lara) will require basic due-process protections for students transferring to and from alternative schools known as community day schools.
• SB 1135 (Jackson) will put an end to the involuntary sterilization of women in California prisons, after a report found unlawful sterilizations were still occurring in California.
• AB 1522 (Gonzalez) made California only the second state in the nation to pass a mandatory paid sick leave law. We would have been more excited about this victory had the bill not been slashed in the last few days of session to exclude in-home support services workers. Paid sick leave is essential to ensure equal access to healthcare and we will continue to work with our partners to assure that all Californians are entitled to it.

As California led in 2014, we also fell far behind in some areas. The Governor vetoed AB 1327 (Gorell), which would have required police to get a warrant before using a drone to spy on someone. Another painful veto was SB 1365 (Padilla), which would have extend the California Voting Rights Act of 2011 to single-member district systems in order to guarantee that all Californians can exercise their fundamental right to vote.

All told, the ACLU of California took a position on 142 distinct bills this year. Fourteen of our priority bills were signed and numerous other bills made significant progress in the legislature before ultimately failing. With the help of our coalition partners and our members, we look to next year and the possibility to create more headlines which name California as the national leader advancing our civil liberties.

For a listing of all the legislation we followed this year, click here.