Florida court dismisses suit over district’s low graduation rate
The Peach Beach Post reports that a Florida circuit court has ruled that the Palm Beach County School Board cannot be sued for its lackluster graduation rate. The state—not any individual district, school board or superintendent—is obligated to provide an adequate education for all children, the judge found. He granted the school district's motion to dismiss the case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU-FL), which argued the district was breaking the law and violating the state constitution by not providing a high-quality education to all students. According to ACLU-FL spokesman Brandon Hensler, the organization’s attorneys are evaluating their options “to determine the most effective way to move forward with this important case.” The suit was the first of its kind targeting a school district anywhere in the country based on graduation rates. “This decision does not change the fact that the Palm Beach School District is not graduating a large number of students,” Mr. Hensler said. “Nothing in the judge's order suggests that the school district is complying with its requirement to provide a high-quality education. The court's decision does not close the door to appeal or future litigation to address the crisis in Palm Beach County's public schools.” ACLU-FL could appeal to a district court or seek to move straight to the state supreme court, he said. Superintendent Art Johnson has acknowledged the district's graduation rate is not high enough but argues that compared with other large districts based in urban areas, Palm Beach County is doing comparatively well. “Given the fact we have such high performance compared to such similarly sized school districts, it didn't make much sense they would sue us,” he said. Among the state's largest school districts, only Hillsborough County, with a 79.1% graduation rate, beat Palm Beach County's 71.8%. ACLU-FL has questioned the state's method of counting graduates, which includes students who earn a GED and not a traditional diploma. The lawsuit called for the district to improve graduation rates among every racial group, for poor students who qualify for subsidized school meals, and among students who are not native English speakers.
Source: Palm Beach Post, 7/30/08, By Laura Green
[Editor’s Note: The first link below is to background on the lawsuit, including the legal complaint, as well as resources from the NSBA Center for Public Education on calculating and raising graduation rates. Regulations proposed under NCLB would establish a federal, uniform formula for calculating graduation rates. The proposal also would require state, school district, and high school progress toward graduation rate benchmarks, including for student sub-groups. See the second link.]
NSBA School Law pages on Palm Beach suit
NSBA School Law pages on proposed NCLB regulations