Sponsors of School Voucher Initiative Sue L.A. District : Education: They say officials broke state law by using public resources to oppose the proposed ballot measure.

With the deadline to qualify for the ballot fast approaching, the sponsors of a plan to funnel tax dollars into vouchers for private schools filed suit against the Los Angeles Unified School District on Thursday, charging that officials broke state law by using public resources to denounce the proposed initiative.

The Excellence Through Choice in Education League (ExCEL) filed the civil suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. Attorney Manual Klausner said the group is seeking an injunction to bar district officials from using their official positions and tax dollars to discourage voters from signing petitions.

The suit contends that the Los Angeles Board of Education broke state law and violated the California education code by passing a motion opposing the Parental Choice Initiative last month, and broadcasting the meeting on the district’s public access television station. Klausner cited state education guidelines and court rulings that say it is improper for government entities to use public resources to defeat or promote a political issue.

“We’re saying that it’s improper for the board to take a partisan position on the initiative,” Klausner said. “Beyond that, we think that the use of public funds or public television equipment is improper when used to further disseminate the partisan political comments made by board members, even in their official capacity.”

The suit also contends that the board should repay the tax dollars spent by the district to broadcast the March 2 meeting in which the motion was passed, said Klausner.

ExCEL filed a similar suit last week against the Las Virgenes Unified School District. On Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the district from using public resources to fight the initiative.

Los Angeles Unified legal adviser Ron Apperson said the Los Angeles district officials have done nothing wrong.

“The Board of Education has every right in a public meeting to vote for or against any proposition of interest to its constituency,” Apperson said. “We have been involved to my knowledge in at least four similar lawsuits and have been successful in all of those. A court has never told the board it doesn’t have the right to communicate in a public meeting its views on issues important to education.”

The initiative, which sponsors hope to put on the November ballot, would provide a voucher worth about $2,500 to every school-age child in California to pay tuition at private or parochial schools. The proposal needs 615,958 valid signatures. The deadline for the measure to qualify is June 25, according to Melissa Warren, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state.

The initiative proposal has sparked an intense debate between opponents of the measure, who say the vouchers will siphon funds away from public schools, and proponents who say the plan would help public schools by relieving the pressures of growing enrollment and creating educational models and alternatives.

Kevin D. Teasley, ExCel vice chairman, said the campaign has collected more than 700,000 signatures. But he said they will wait another seven to 10 days before submitting the petitions to county election officials so that they can try to collect another 220,000 signatures. Because many signatures are later found to be invalid, an effort is made to collect more than the minimum required.

“We’ll continue to go until we get enough,” said Teasley. “We’re confident we’ll qualify within a week or so.”

But opponents of the plan, waging a diligent campaign of their own, said Thursday they doubted that the initiative could make the November ballot.

“Our analysis is that they (have) probably somewhere between 500,000 and 575,000 signatures and in order to qualify they’ll have to gather at least 900,000 signatures,” said Kelly Kimball, whose company specializes in qualifying petitions for the ballot and is currently working with the Committee to Educate Against Vouchers. “I don’t buy it. I don’t think they’ll make it for November.”

Added Alice Huffman, associate executive director of the California Teachers Assn., which is against the initiative: “They certainly haven’t been averaging 100,000 signatures a week in the past. (And) our people are not going to lighten up.”