Florida Parents Sue State Over Education
Thursday, November 19, 2009
By: Tom Parkinson

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Tallahassee claims officials are violating the state constitution by not providing a quality education for Florida children. The lawsuit cites low graduation rates, poor test scores, high drop-out rates and low teacher pay as evidence that Florida is failing in every measure of educational quality. A group of Orlando mothers began organizing last year with the goal of taking legal action. The group, known as Fund Education Now, is joined in the suit by parent groups from Duval, Pasco and Alachua Counties. The suit names the State Board of Education and legislative leaders as defendants and asks that the court order state leaders to come up with a plan for improving education. The Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. This is the second lawsuit this month accusing Florida of unconstitutionally shortchanging public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a similar complaint Nov. 5th.