PRESS RELEASE
December 12, 2011 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robert A. Brown, Esq. 213-596-5992
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Parent Group Files Lawsuit Charging
LAUSD With Misuse of $2.5 Billion in Federal Title I Funds
The District Advisory Committee (DAC), a parent group established to advise and monitor the
District’s use of federal Title I money, has filed a $2.5 billion class-action lawsuit against the
District for dissolving the DAC and for aggressively banning them from Parent Centers and all
LAUSD property.
The suit asks for an accounting and restitution of the $2.5 billion into a trust account and for
the judge to affirm the right of the parent group to continue its work as the DAC.
The suit was filed on behalf of nearly 1.2 million parents whose children – 600,000 in the
District – attend Title I schools in LAUSD. A school is deemed a Title I school if 75% of its
students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Title I schools receive supplemental federal
money to provide extra resources and learning opportunities for their students.
For the past 30 years, Title I parents have elected from among themselves representatives to
serve on the DAC. The DAC is tasked under federal law and District policy to advise, monitor
and partner with the District on the allocation of Title I funds.
But LAUSD Superintendent, Dr. John E. Deasy dissolved the DAC and banned it’s duly elected
members from Parent Centers and all LAUSD property. In some instances, DAC members were
visited at their homes and pulled out of meetings by LAUSD police, while others were
threatened by District administrators with deportation.
“The DAC believes that Dr. Deasy’s unilateral attack against them and Title I parents is the
culmination of several years of complaints by parents that LAUSD has failed to perform its
obligations for parent involvement,” said Robert A. Brown, Esq., who is the attorney who filed
the lawsuit.
###