Judge Says Law Requires Schools to Give CLAS : Education: Two Antelope Valley board members say the district may appeal the ruling. A state bill would reform the process of creating the exam.

A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that state law requires school districts to administer the controversial CLAS test, which has been praised as a revolutionary measure of critical thinking skills and blasted as intrusive and secretive.

Judge Diane Wayne’s decision came after the state sought a court order against the Antelope Valley Union High School District, which had refused to give the California Learning Assessment System test to its students.

“By refusing to administer the test (the district has) clearly violated its obligations under the Education Code,” Wayne wrote in her four-page decision to grant the order.

While agreeing that the law requires a statewide assessment test be given annually, critics of the exam had said the Education Code does not require it to be the CLAS test, which is being given this year to more than 1 million fourth-, fifth-, eighth- and 10th-grade students.

Six of the 1,006 school districts in the state have opted not to give the 1994 CLAS test. Antelope Valley is the only school district the state has taken to court over the matter.

Despite Wayne’s decision and issuance of a tentative ruling, Billy Pricer, president of the Antelope Valley school board, said he was uncertain how the district would respond.

“Everything is resting on how the judge actually words the order and what we’re ordered to do,” Pricer said. “Right now it’s a waiting game until we get that.”

He said the board would probably consider appealing the ruling, noting that an appeal would also serve as a stall tactic so the district could try to avoid giving the test before the school year ends June 15.

“Personally, I’d like to see us appeal,” said board member Sue Stokka, who voted with Pricer and member Tony Welch in the board’s April 20 decision not to administer CLAS. Monday’s ruling “doesn’t change my opinion one iota about my concerns about the test,” she said.

If the district does give the test, Pricer said it would do so under protest.

“We went in there and (Wayne) had already made up her mind on it,” said Pricer. “I was, naturally, rather disappointed because I thought we had a good case and I still think we do.”

The school district argued unsuccessfully that the state Department of Education failed to adopt required rules and regulations for the administration of CLAS.

“There are no regulations in the state of California requiring testing at the 10th grade level,” said Frank J. Fekete, the school district’s attorney.

Wayne disagreed, saying such regulations are in place and are sufficient.

State Department of Education officials said they were pleased with Monday’s ruling.

“We have now a chance to go forward,” said William D. Dawson, acting state superintendent of public instruction, who attended the hearing. “My interest is primarily in getting on with the job of improving the CLAS test for the future.”

The state Senate last week approved legislation that would reauthorize the test for five more years and would also impose several reforms designed to improve public confidence in CLAS.

The bill by Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) would prohibit asking students about their sexual, moral and religious beliefs or those of their families. It would also create a Legislature-appointed citizens committee to review the final test and add parents and other members of the public to the teams of teachers who develop it.

Critics have said the literature portion of the CLAS test includes passages that are racist, denigrate the family and ask students to defy authority by writing about a school rule they disagree with. They also contend the test fails to measure basic skills.

Dawson said Monday he was hopeful that in light of Monday’s ruling the five other school districts, which includes Acton-Agua Dulce Unified, will reverse their position and administer the test. Asked what action the Department of Education would take if those districts continued to refuse to give the test, Dawson said he would not comment on “hypothetical” situations.

Joyce Field, a member of the Acton school board, said the board may reconsider its position. “We’ll certainly have to take a look at that. We’re not going to ignore what happened.”

At the same time, however, Field said the majority of parents in the district do not want the test to be given to their children and the board has to answer to its constituents.

In her tentative ruling, Wayne also rejected the Antelope Valley district’s argument that their decision was a matter of local control, citing a legal decision that said regulation and operation of public schools are a statewide issue as outlined in the state Constitution.