LOS ANGELES — A hearing was held this week for an ongoing lawsuit between the state of California and local families.

More than 10 Los Angeles families and community organization Community Coalition have joined families in Oakland in a lawsuit against the California Department of Education, claiming low-income Black and brown students received an unequal education while learning online.

David Alvarez, 13, and his mother are part of the lawsuit via Community Coalition. He nearly failed eighth grade even though he had passing grades just the year before. Learning online meant being cut off from his friends and teachers, plus spotty WiFi.

“There were times like WiFi kept going out, and I needed to get to classes,” David said. “I kept missing important information.”

He was losing information, as his single mother, Atala Giraldo, was losing hours at work. The bills were piling up.

“I fell into a depression. My health was greatly affected. There were days I couldn’t get out of bed,” Giraldo said.

She admits she couldn’t support David academically or emotionally as much as he needed, and she needed help paying for internet to keep him online.

“There was no financial reimbursement. There weren’t resources,” Giraldo said. “There weren’t resources like where to go if your child is failing, where to go if your child is keeping, cheating, sad, isolated, closing doors and you don’t know what’s going on.”

She and David believe the State of California should have better-supported students. They and other families across the state claim low-income Black and brown students were not given an equal education during the pandemic.

Public counsel lawyer Jesselyn Friley said the state should be held accountable.

“The California Supreme Court has said on numerous occasions that the state of California has the constitutional responsibility to make sure that every kid has access to a basic education,” Friley said. “So it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that that’s available.”

Virtual learning was difficult for students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, but the lawsuit argues that existing inequalities in the state’s education system were made worse. Online classrooms caused a digital divide, learning loss and mental health issues, and the state didn’t do enough to provide extra support for low-income Black and brown families.

Yet lawyers for the state say otherwise. They responded to the lawsuit in a letter saying leadership added an additional $5.3 billion to the state budget to help close learning gaps and address the digital divide. They say the state continues to work diligently to address the adverse impacts of the global pandemic.

David and his mother, along with other plaintiffs, won’t receive money as part of the lawsuit. They are asking the state to provide districts with more support to help remedy the challenges they faced.

David did eventually turn his grades around thanks to the help from his teachers, who called him and his mother and said he wouldn’t go to high school if he didn’t improve.

“It was a wake-up call, and it really did help,” Alvarez said.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 13. Lawyers expect a preliminary decision by the start of the school year in the fall.