. . . . Increasing The Legal Budget By $373,000 On An Annual Basis For The L.A. Law Firm Representing The District In The Matter.
Gloria Romero, a former Democratic senator from L.A. and an education reformer, has written a piece in the OpEd section of the August 2, 2015 edition of The Orange County Register entitled “District should stop thwarting parents.” In her article, she reports that the Anaheim City School District’s trustees voted to appeal Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew P. Banks’ July 16, 2015 ruling that the district had unlawfully rejected the reform effort of 67% of the Palm Lane Elementary School’s parents, through a parent trigger petition under the Parent Empowerment Act, to create an independent charter school in replacement of what she said was a “chronically underperforming school.” What is more, Ms. Romero reports, is that the district’s trustees boosted the contract of the law firm they retained to fight parents from $305,000 annually to $678,000 annually—a $373,000 increase and apparently to help fund the ensuing appeal.
Here is a link to Judge Banks’ decision on this matter, and we could locate nothing on the Fourth District, Division 3 public website to show that the appeal had been filed.
Although not mentioned in the OpEd article, the district increased the legal budget of L.A.’s Fagen, Friedman & Fulfrost. The parents look to have been represented by Mark Holscher of Kirkland & Ellis, LP, apparently on a pro bono basis.