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Lawyers Sue California Because Too Many Children Can't Read

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A group of prominent lawyers is suing California because so many school children do not know how to read and they argue the state has done nothing about it.

The advocacy law firm, Public Counsel, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court to demand the California Department of Education respond to its "literacy crisis."

Department spokesman Bill Ainsworth says officials could not comment because the state had not yet been served.

Public Counsel lawyer Mark Rosenbaum says the state has not implemented recommendations to address the problem proposed in its own report five years ago.

Statewide English assessments found less than half of California students from third grade to fifth grade have met statewide literacy standards since 2015.

Rosenbaum says both traditional and charter schools are failing.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.

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