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SACRAMENTO, Ca (Sep. 1,
2006) - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) prevailed today
in its legal action on behalf of Hindu parents from California
against the California School Board of Education (SBE). But
in a mixed ruling, the demand by HAF that the SBE be required
to throw out the currently approved textbooks and revisit
the entire textbook adoption process was denied.
HAF brought the lawsuit
contending that the procedure through which the SBE reviewed
and approved revisions in sixth grade textbooks, especially
as to their presentation of Hinduism, was not conducted under
regulations required under the California Administrative Procedures
Act and contravened the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. As
a result, HAF held, anti-Hindu academics were illegally allowed
to bias the process against Hindu parents and students in
California resulting in textbooks that presented the debunked
Aryan Migration Theory as fact, misrepresented caste as central
to Hinduism and left the impression that Hinduism devalued
the role of women.
In his ruling on Hindu American
Foundation, et al., v. California State Board of Education,
et al, Case No. 06 CS 00386, Judge Patrick Marlette of the
California Superior Court upheld HAF’s claim that the
textbook adoption process was flawed and illegal. Judge Marlette
wrote that the California SBE, “at all times relevant
to this matter has been conducting its textbook approval process
under invalid ‘underground regulations.’”
He withheld an opinion on the violation of the open meeting
act deciding that since the entire process was already “invalid”
a specific ruling would be redundant.
In his conflicted ruling,
however, Judge Marlette ruled that the “relief”
demanded by HAF—that is to reject the textbooks adopted
under an illegal process—would be disruptive not only
to those affected sixth graders, but potentially every California
public school student using any and every textbooks adopted
under the SBE’s unlawful policies. Judge Marlette wrote,
“The Court therefore determines…that respondent
[SBE] should be permitted a reasonable opportunity to correct
the deficiencies in its regulatory framework governing the
textbook approval process…while maintaining the current
system in the interim.”
“We are pleased, of
course, that Judge Marlette agreed with our position all along
that the process in adopting the textbooks was flawed and
illegal,” said Suhag Shukla, Esq., legal counsel of
HAF who coordinated the lawsuit with attorneys at Olson Hagel
and Fishburn, LLP in representing HAF and Hindu parents. “It
would seem logical that if the process was illegal, then the
resulting textbooks must be tossed out and the adoption process
repeated. Apparently, Judge Marlette is reluctant to reject
possibly millions of books, in addition to those in this case
covering sixth grade social studies, that could be implicated
and allowed them to stand for now—that is very disappointing.”
Despite stating that he
considered the declarations and correspondences attesting
to the inaccuracies and discrepancies in the Hinduism section
of adopted textbooks from several scholars that actually teach
Hinduism, including a past president of the American Academy
of Religion (AAR) and current co-chairs of the Hinduism Unit
of the AAR, Judge Marlette held that the textbooks were not
necessarily illegal in terms of the standards set forth by
the education code because they were not “grossly inaccurate.”
HAF attorneys interpreted
the ruling to mean that the focus of Hindu parents and HAF
in California and other states should shift to changing the
standards and framework that set the criteria that must be
covered in any textbook covering Hinduism. If those standards
accurately reflect the Hinduism that most Hindus practice,
then the textbooks will necessarily comply. Current standards,
they held, are grossly outdated and inaccurate.
So while the process followed
in adopting the contentious Hinduism sections, and all recently
approved textbooks in California, was illegal—as HAF
had argued—the judge apparently decided against a sweeping
ruling that could open the door to other lawsuits discarding
textbooks in the most populous state in the United States.
HAF attorneys are considering their options for an appeal
of this lawsuit to force revisions to the Hinduism section
in the contested textbooks.
Importantly, Judge Marlette
read versions of the textbooks that already had been significantly
improved in their coverage of Hinduism due to the efforts
of the Hindu Education Foundation and Vedic Foundation. This
success was in spite of the efforts of a subsection of non-Hindu
academics historically antagonistic to practitioners of Hinduism,
and a coalition of Indian communist and anti-Hindu groups.
While the immediate goal
of revising textbooks beyond the changes was unmet, HAF leaders
expressed satisfaction that their efforts will ultimately
benefit all Californians in having reinstated public accountability
to the actions of the SBE.
“Over 14 years ago, in 1992, another California court
ordered the SBE to revamp its textbook adoption processes
to bring it in compliance with the law and all of this time,
the SBE has been ignoring that. It’s taken HAF’s
lawsuit to put the SBE’s proverbial feet to the fire,”
said Shukla. “HAF, and the efforts of a talented team
of attorneys at Olson Hagel and Fishburn, have ensured that
the SBE will end its pattern of misleading California public
school students by acting arbitrarily, and in the case of
Hindus, unfairly and inequitably.”
Judge Marlette in his ruling also rejected outright an amicus,
or friend-of-the-court, brief against HAF and Hindu parents
filed by a coalition of anti-Hindu and communist groups, as
it lacked merit and relevance.
“Our lawsuit was the
first collective effort by a wide array of Hindu American
groups to counter a major injustice perpetrated against them,”
said Mihir Meghani, M.D., President of HAF. “Our action,
enabled entirely by the support of Americans living throughout
our nation, is a testament to the Hindu community’s
potential and determination to ascertain a secure and confident
future for the next generation of Hindu Americans. Today,
Hindus have a voice, and they have asserted that they will
never again remain silent spectators as they shape their destiny
in this great country.”
The Hindu American Foundation
is a non-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting
the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance
and pluralism.
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