Education

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School districts are rallying behind a lawsuit calling for an overhaul of the way California pays for its public schools.

Baldwin Park Unified, Bonita Unified, Walnut Valley Unified, Alhambra Unified and East Whittier City school districts recently approved resolutions backing the Robles-Wong v. California lawsuit, filed in Alameda County in May.

It alleges the resources allocated to state schools are disjointed from the educational program school districts are required to provide.

In addition it claims students are being denied equal access to a quality education because of the broken and unconstitutional finance system.

"The state finance system does not support the educational program that is necessary to make kids successful in the 21st century," said Abe Hajela, who represents the California School Boards Association, the state Parent Teacher Association and the Association of California Administrators, all plaintiffs in the suit.

In addition to the three associations, plaintiffs include nine school districts and 60 parents and students.

The governor said the system needs to be reformed in order to provide a better education to California's students.

"The governor is ready to work with the plaintiffs in this case, but his main priority is to reform the way that money is spent in our education system so that we put the needs of our students in the classroom first," said Matt Connelly, deputy press secretary for

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Multiple studies show that throwing more money into our broken education