KATIE BURNS
Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- The United States Justice Foundation, a conservative legal group that is suing the Escondido high schools over student fees, has taken on many other controversial issues over the years as part of its mission.

"Our goal is to promote the United States Constitution and to fight infringement upon it by various government entities and various government-funded agencies," said attorney Gary Kreep, who founded the organization in 1979.

Over the past quarter century, he said, the foundation has filed hundreds of lawsuits. In the past year, he has handled several dozen cases ---- including several challenges to student fees. He sued the Escondido Union High School District on Feb. 25, prompting a temporary halt on the collection of fees for next year.

Kreep said he believes that charging students for gym clothes or instrument rentals in the public schools amounts to double taxation, though such fees are not uncommon.

His organization also handles a wide variety of issues involving educational matters, from defending the interests of home schoolers to providing exemption forms to parents who want to keep their kids out of school sex education programs.

"We have cases where we agree with the ACLU," said Richard Ackerman, the organization's other lawyer.

The lawyers also pursue a broad array of cases outside the field of education. They are challenging the state's long-term energy contracts while also trying to help an online publication obtain a press pass to the U.S. Senate. But all the work reflects the conservative, constitutional ideals that Kreep set out to protect in the first place.

"Back in 1979, several conservative attorneys and I were concerned about the impact that liberal legal organizations were having on the United States," Kreep said.

He said he did everything when he started out with his conservative legal group. Now he has four employees and several volunteers to help him at an office on East Valley Parkway ---- as well as his fellow lawyer, who joined the organization in January 2001.

"I was about to quit the practice of law altogether because I was so disgusted with what was happening in the civil courts with people pushing ethical limits, especially lawyers," said Ackerman, who is also a professor of philosophy. "I haven't lost a single minute of sleep over the cases we handle."

He said he particularly believes in challenging student fees because he grew up in a poor family. He added that the California Constitution guarantees children a free education, even for activities some people consider optional.

"A lot of kids are interested in things other than scholastics," Kreep said. "And because of the competition to get into the colleges, colleges often look at extracurriculars. When you put these fees on, you're denying possibly a student a college education."

The lawyers successfully sued the Pasadena Unified School District over student fees, reaching a settlement of $227,000 in January. They have filed similar suits against the San Diego Unified School District, Claremont Unified School District and Corona-Norco Unified School District ---- to the dismay of many parents and teachers.

"There's this impression that USJF is running around suing these people," Ackerman said. " 'Oh, bad, bad USJF putting a stop to dances' and all that. Stop doing what's wrong in the first place, and it wouldn't be an issue."

Other opinions

But not everyone thinks that the USJF has such noble goals in this case.

"There's a group of attorneys that are pushing these laws, and they're making a killing on it," said Peter Soelter, a trustee of the Pasadena school district.

Kreep said some lawyers do receive payments for working on these cases. But he said he and Ackerman put their attorney's fees back into the foundation, where they are essentially used on salaries.

Soelter said that in the case of the Pasadena district, a principal made the mistake of using the word "mandatory" for gym clothes with a school logo. He said some students also had to pay nominal fees for instrument rental. Soelter added that the district has refunded only $30,000 to parents.

"The upshot of it is that everyone who benefited from buying these things at the low cost said, 'We got a good deal. We don't need to be reimbursed,' " said Soelter, who added that he believes the lawsuit was a waste of time. "If you say it's voluntary, everyone pays anyway."

Rene Amy, the man who sued the Pasadena school district, sees the situation differently. He said he thinks student fees are discriminatory to low-income families and that the district was charging parents for far more than gym clothes and instrument rentals, as evidenced by the amount of the settlement.

And he said he agrees with the tactics of the foundation.

"Ours is the first case where we said not only stop charging, but give us back the money," he said. "If there's any way to stop these illegal fees, it is to make the districts give back the money."

Amy said he thinks more parents and teachers would challenge the student fees if they did not fear retribution from neighbors and administrators ---- who fear that halting student fees would jeopardize both in-school and after-school activities. He said he was disappointed his case did not go to appellate court.

"I was hoping it would go to the appellate so there would be citable case law," Amy said.

Daniel Graham, who has two children at Escondido High School, said he thinks public schools will not be able to afford activities without student fees. He said booster groups help raise the money for expensive extracurriculars such as cheerleading. He said he also disagrees with the USJF's tactics.

"This guy is obviously making his money off of suing school districts," Graham said. "I think the way they're doing this, we're going to destroy public education. I agree with most of the stuff they're doing."

For example, he agreed with the friend-of-the-court brief that the USJF filed with the U.S. Supreme Court when the ACLU challenged the Child Online Protection Act.

"It's a very conservative law firm, and I'm a very conservative person," Graham said. "But these particular lawsuits are unfair to the students in the public school now."

But Kreep said he believes that the school districts have enough money for activities, but they want to turn the activities into profit centers.

Contact staff writer Katie Burns at (760) 740-5420 or kburns@nctimes.com.

Selected projects and cases of the United States Justice Foundation

1979 White vs. Northern Louisiana Legal Assistance Corporation Provided attorney and all related costs for reverse discrimination lawsuit.

1979 Brian R. Weber vs. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation and the United States Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO Filed friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Weber's attack on reverse discrimination.

1979-1981 John Doe vs. William French Smith Provided attorney and all court costs and expenses in the U.S. District Court to force government to deport Iranians illegally residing in the United States.

1982 Rovert J. Bell vs. Nashua Provided partial funding for taxpayer lawsuit challenging the refusal of the city of Nashua, N.H., to adopt or allow public vote on an initiative petition to limit the city's imposition of taxes.

1992 Nordlinger vs. Hahn Filed friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the successful defense of California's Proposition 13, the measure to limit property taxes, against an attempt to have it invalidated.

1993 Anderson vs. Green Filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court to defend California law restricting welfare grants for new arrivals.

1994 Boehner vs. Anderson Filed friend-of-the-court brief in the lawsuit to bar the congressional pay raise enacted in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

1994 U.S. Term Limits et al vs. Thornton et al Filed friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of term limits legislation in four cases combined for hearing.

1994 Clinton Health Care Task Force Served Freedom of Information Act requests on nine federal departments and agencies seeking all information in their possession and their employees' possession concerning the proposed health care plan. Have advised the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons in its litigation on this subject.

1994-1996 Alvarado et al vs. City of San Jose et al Represented plaintiffs in suit challenging the use by the city of San Jose of $1 million in taxpayer funds to purchase and install on public land a statue of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.

1994-1997 Ray Helen Jones vs. Southern University Funded lawsuit against all-black university for discrimination against women in employment policies.

1995-1996 Carlin et al vs. San Diego Unified School District Represented parents in desegregation case challenging school district's use of $48 million per year in special funding.

1996 Western/California Ltd. et al vs. Dry Creek Elementary School District Filed friend-of-the-court brief in support of legal challenge to the action of the school district, which was levying excessive fees against a developer to finance school construction.

6/9/02