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02/09/2006:

"Students, Parents Sue Over High School Exit Exam"

A group of high school students and their parents filed a class-action lawsuit today against the State Board of Education on behalf of the tens of thousands of California students who have failed the exit exam required to graduate.

The suit seeks a court order allowing students in this year's graduating class to earn their diploma regardless of whether they passed the math and English portions of the exam.

Lawyers for the students plan to argue that underfunded schools have failed to adequately prepare minority and disadvantaged students for the exam and that the state board did not consider alternatives to the test, as required by law.

"We are telling kids that they do not get a diploma if they do not pass an exit exam. We think that is unfair. It is unwise and it is illegal," said Arturo Gonzalez, the lawyer for the group.

"Many students in California have not been given a fair opportunity to learn the material on the exam," said Gonzalez, who filed the lawsuit in Sacramento.
latimes.com