State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Distribution of Nearly $1 Million for Paradise Unified Technology Purchases

SACRAMENTO— State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE), working in collaboration with Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Microsoft agreed, to provide a payment of $973,863.36 to Paradise Unified School District to help with rebuilding efforts in the wake of the devastating Camp Fire. These funds were unredeemed amounts remaining from the cy pres portion of the $1.1 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit obtained by Plaintiff Class Counsel Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton from Microsoft in 2003.

“Butte County educators and their communities suffered greatly during and after the Camp Fire. They have also worked heroically and selflessly toward helping students,” said Thurmond. “I’m proud of the work the CDE is continuing to do in assisting students and educators in Paradise and surrounding communities. This grant will help Paradise Unified rebuild schools and support its education infrastructure.”

Fourteen schools were damaged or destroyed during the Camp Fire in November 2018. The fire temporarily forced the closure of 99 schools and displaced 31,670 students. On December 3, 2018, 87 schools reopened with about 28,032 students returning to their school of origin and 2,208 students attending classes at temporary school sites.

Over $480 million was made available to California’s K–12 schools and districts for educational technology purchases through the Education Technology K–12 Voucher Program. After five K–12 Voucher funding distributions totaling $482.3 million were disbursed to California schools, $973,863.36 remained. Upon the recommendation of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, lead counsel for plaintiffs, Microsoft agreed to distribute the remaining funds directly to the Paradise Unified School District, which will use these funds at its own discretion to rebuild and serve students.

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100