US judge declines suit on MCAS
The Boston Globe
Anand Vaishnav
December 3, 2002
In a ruling tinged with sympathy for the student plaintiffs, a federal judge yesterday declined to hear a lawsuit seeking to strike down the MCAS exam, and directed lawyers to wage their battle over the controversial test in state court instead.
Eight students who have failed the MCAS test required for graduation are suing state education officials, saying the test is discriminatory and that many struggling schools have failed to teach students the material on the exam.
Yesterday, US District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor said he would not decide the highly anticipated case because it largely covers alleged violations of state law - something federal courts typically avoid. Yet he urged the plaintiffs to return to him if they get bogged down in state courts. And he agreed that the case raises pressing questions about whether the MCAS test is a "benefit or burden" on students who haven't been prepared.
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Thomas Frongillo, the lead attorney for the eight unidentified students, said his team probably will file suit in state court before the winter holidays. About six months remain before the first class of students are denied diplomas because they have not passed the MCAS test.
"It's just a shift of forum," said Frongillo, of the Boston firm Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeault. "We're going to move expeditiously because our clients, the students, their rights are at issue."
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Heidi B. Perlman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said lawyers from Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly's office will defend the test in state court. "It's important for state law to be decided by a state judge," Perlman said. "We're not seeing this as a victory or a defeat. By a long shot, nothing is over. It just moves from one courtroom to another."
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The lawsuit involves eight unidentified student plaintiffs from Billerica, Brockton, Holyoke, Northampton, and Springfield. They are minorities, disabled, limited-English, or vocational students who claim the test is discriminatory. Their lawyers are seeking class-action status. Passing the English and math sections of the test is a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2003.
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Frongillo said half the case covers violations of the US Constitution and federal statutes, particularly the discrimination and equal-protection claims. For example, Latino students make up about 8 percent of the class of 2003, but 50 percent of them have not passed MCAS yet. By contrast, white students make up 79 percent of the class, and 13 percent have not passed yet.
Frongillo also argued that state officials had no authority to create the graduation requirement - even citing evidence that Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll had tried unsuccessfully to amend the Education Reform Act to include the requirement.
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"The Commonwealth will have to keep an active file on these arguments," said Paul Reville, executive director of the Center for Education Research and Policy at MassINC, a Boston think tank. "They really need to be heard and decided. It would be, in my view, a welcome development in the evolution of education reform for a court to put to rest once and for all the question as to whether or not the graduation requirement by the state is reasonable."