Fullerton : State Must Pay District’s Vocation Training Costs

A Superior Court judge has ordered the state to repay the Fullerton Joint Union High School District the $11.5 million the district claims it lost in vocational education costs during the last six years.

Supt. Robert Martin called the ruling a victory for the district, which had battled the state Legislature for the last six years to get the money.

The ruling, Martin said, adds “teeth” to previous rulings ordering the state to pay. Monday’s ruling requires the state controller to demand the money from the Legislature.

The repayment stems from the state Department of Education’s handling of a special incentive program for school districts that improve their vocational programs.

During the early 1970s, Fullerton improved its vocational program and began applying for the special funding from the state.

But the district never got a cent.

The state, according to a 1983 appellate court ruling, discouraged and misled district officials into thinking that they were not entitled to the money and told them to drop the effort.

But by 1979, Fullerton discovered that other school districts were, in fact, receiving money, so district officials went through the courts to get the money retroactively, Martin said.

In a January, 1983, appellate court decision, the state was ordered to pay $3.2 million, plus the cost of the vocational program over the last six years. The total came to $11.5 million.

Eight months later, a Superior Court reaffirmed that ruling. But the Legislature still didn’t pay.

The ruling Monday by Judge Philip Schwab requires the state controller to get the money and pay the district within 45 days.