Compton Sues to Regain Control of Schools

Compton officials filed a federal lawsuit against the California Department of Education on Wednesday, charging that it has violated students’ constitutional rights by failing to provide them with an adequate education.

The suit--filed less than a month after news broke that city and state negotiators had been trying to end years of bitter fighting--asks a judge to place the district under supervision of the city and to force the state to begin returning the district to local control.

The suit alleges that Compton students now learn under dismal conditions and that their education has deteriorated, despite promises by state education officials to overhaul the beleaguered school district when the state took it over more than five years ago.

“We believe that five years is far too long, and that there has been no progress,” said Mayor Omar Bradley, a plaintiff in the suit.

But Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said in a written statement that the district is making progress “after decades of neglect and mismanagement.”

Eastin said the district’s state-appointed administrator, Randolph Ward, who is a defendant in the suit, has begun to improve the district. Test scores are showing signs of improvement, and “the district has made all its scheduled repayments of the state’s loan, evidence that the fiscal health of the district is likewise improving,” Eastin said.

Bradley, however, drew attention to a state audit issued in April that questions the financial ability of the district to continue operating.