CLAS Test Opponent Says His Group Protects Parents’ Rights

The California Learning Assessment System test has been hailed by its supporters as a revolutionary method of testing students, providing a way to measure students’ critical thinking skills. But the test, given for the first time last year to about a million fourth-, eighth- and 10th-grade students, has come under increasing criticism, with opponents of the costly test saying it asks students personal questions and fails to measure basic skills.

One of the primary agitators in the controversy that has erupted over CLAS is Gary Kreep. Through his Escondido-based United States Justice Foundation, Kreep, 43, sent letters to each of the more than 1,000 school districts in the state threatening them with lawsuits if they did not seek consent from parents before giving the test to their children. Kreep contends that Education Code Section 60650 makes parental consent necessary because the test asks personal questions.

Although the state Department of Education maintains the 1994 CLAS does not ask personal questions so there is no requirement for consent, the rising opposition to CLAS led William D. Dawson, acting state superintendent of public instruction, to last week notify school districts that they may allow parents to exempt their children from the test.

Even with the department’s actions, Kreep is not satisfied. His foundation has filed lawsuits against nearly two dozen school districts. And his threat even led one school district to simply refuse to administer the test, something that will, in turn, probably prompt legal action by the Department of Education.

Kreep was interviewed by Times special correspondent Sharon Moeser.

Question: What is the United States Justice Foundation and what is your connection to it?

Answer: USJF is a conservative, nonprofit, public-interest, legal action group established in 1979. I am executive director and the only staff attorney, although there are about 70 attorneys all over the country who donate some time each year to the foundation.

Q. How is the foundation funded?

A. We have a contributor list of about 73,000 people, just common, everyday people. Our public records show we raised approximately $1 million in 1993.

Q. Before CLAS, what did the foundation do.

A. We litigate issues of public import from a conservative viewpoint, although a lot of things we do are not court cases. A lot of people call, saying, ‘my rights have been violated, what are my rights?’ We also do public-education-types of projects such as distributing copies of the Bill of Rights and the Pledge of Allegiance to parents and children all over the country.

Q. How did the foundation get involved in CLAS?

A. We were contacted by parents who were irate over the CLAS test. They had seen copies of the test and they didn’t think it was suitable. They thought it was intrusive and depressing and not the kind of thing they wanted their children to be reading. They came to us seeking legal advice on what to do about it. That was last August. There was a statewide task force on education made up of a lot of moms. We were invited to join and started doing some legal research in regards to CLAS and started advising parents of their rights.

At that time there was an attempt being made to work with the state Board of Education to deal with the objectionable materials in the test. Assurances were given by the board, but ultimately those assurances proved to be false. So we started saying we’re going to start filing lawsuits. That was early to mid-March. I sent letters to all 1,007 school districts.

Q. What are your specific problems with the test?

A. From a legal point of view, the questions contained on almost every example of the test I’ve seen violate Education Code 60650. They’re asking questions about personal things, about the children’s lives. When you’re talking about things like death or marriage, you’re talking about issues that not only have moral consequences, but religious significance.

Q. The Department of Education has said that many of the items you and other CLAS opponents are calling test questions are in fact not from the test.

A. They’ve actually said that none of what we’re passing around has ever been on a CLAS test. I can tell you that I have seen parts of the 1994 CLAS test, and things from the 1993 test. I’m not going to get too specific, but they can misstate all they want.

Q. The state has worked very hard to keep the tests secret in order to ensure their validity. How are you getting copies?

A. Parents are reporting to us what’s on the test because their children tell them. There are some people within the educational establishment so incensed by this that copies are being sent out.

Q. What makes an attorney or a conservative public interest foundation an expert in education?

A. I’m not an education expert, but I can read the law and I can use my own good judgment and I can read what these questions ask. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how they would violate the law.

Q: What is your motivation?

A. To protect parents’ rights.

Q. The Department of Education has repeatedly said its attorneys reviewed the 1994 test and concluded the rights of parents and students are not violated.

A. I don’t know what those department attorneys saw, but I’ve shown test parts to other attorneys who are not employed by the Department of Education and they’ve agreed with me that this stuff appears to violate the Education Code.

Q. You sent a letter in March to every school district in the state threatening them with legal action and the possibility of the district having to pay “substantial attorneys’ fees” if they did not seek parental consent before giving the test. Why not just advise the districts that you believe consent is necessary?

A. The idea of including the threat was to make them understand they just can’t blithely ignore the law and that if we make them obey the law they’re not going to get off without damages. Even with the threat, many superintendents did not take it seriously.

Q. Some say that you represent a “vocal minority” and not the majority of parents. How would you respond?

A. I’m speaking multiple times a week all around the state and, with one exception, every parent who has looked at the test has been appalled. That one parent was someone that helped develop the test.

There’s a lot of uproar. It’s not just me and a few parents, it’s a lot of parents, and the legislators are starting to get interested in this too. This is not just some issue that is going to quietly die away after a couple days. If it is a minority who are objecting, it is because the parents don’t know about the test because of all the secrecy.

Q. The Department of Education last week reversed its earlier position and informed school districts it will not take action against those that adopt procedures allowing parents to exempt their children. Why is that not enough to meet your concerns?

A. That still doesn’t comply with the law. Education Code section 60650 is very specific. They’re still violating parents’ rights so as long as we keep getting plaintiffs, we’ll keep suing.

Q. Would you ultimately like the test to be abandoned entirely?

A. My personal views are really not the issue. The issue to me is compliance with the law.

Q. CLAS has been hailed by its supporters as offering a revolutionary new way of testing, specifically by being able to measure what students have learned and their ability to apply that knowledge. Should that be done?

A. This is getting into an area where I don’t pretend to have any real understanding or abilities to comment. That’s for the educational expert and I’m not an educational expert.

Q. Why not file a suit against the state Department of Education since it is the agency saying the test must be given? Aren’t you sticking the school districts in an untenable situation?

A. The law is very clear that it’s the districts that administer the test and the districts are the ones that are under the restrictions of Education Code section 60650.

Districts are being put in the position of doing what the department tells them or following the wishes of their constituents and the parents in respect to students’ rights.

Q. How do you feel about the decision of the Antelope Valley Union High School District to not administer the test, a decision they made after you sent them your letter and spoke to them at a public meeting?

A. Their decision went far beyond what we were asking them to do, but they made their stand. Now we’re going to see if that one incident, that one vote, leads to a major decision on the CLAS test. Between that and the Beaumont district suing the Department of Education, we may get a legal determination as to whether districts are actually required to give the CLAS test.

Q. The Department of Education has said what the Antelope Valley district did is in violation of the law.

A. I’ve been arguing with that all along. The law says districts shall administer a statewide test. The state Board of Education passes other tests as statewide tests. There is no mandate in the law that the CLAS test must be given. That has been the decision and demand of the state Department of Education, but that doesn’t make it the law. They don’t make law, the Legislature makes law.