We are days away from the one-year anniversary of Commonwealth Court’s decisive ruling in our case challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s school funding system. On Feb. 7, we will join with other advocates for an adequate, equitable, and racially just school funding system to mark the anniversary of that momentous decision with a rally in Harrisburg on the theme “Making the Right to Quality Education a Reality.”

Our elected officials in Harrisburg owe it to our students and communities to make the necessary additional investments and changes to the state’s funding system required by the court to bring it into constitutional compliance. It is time for action. If you can’t be with us to deliver that message in person to legislators, please contact your legislators to let them know: It’s time to fund our schools.

Following months of testimony and advocacy by ELC and others, the state’s Basic Education Funding Commission issued a majority report on Jan. 11 finding that Pennsylvania school districts are underfunded by more than $5.4 billion and recommending a seven-year plan for the state to close this massive funding gap.

If implemented, this could be life-changing for students in the state’s underfunded schools. The plan represents a major milestone towards an effective remedy in the school funding case. We had urged the commission to identify a research-based target for what level of added funding is needed, and they did!

The commission also recommended increases of at least $200 million annually to be distributed through the state’s current basic education funding formula and $300 million each year to renovate or rebuild school facilities. The total first-year increase would be $1.4 billion, with increases for every district.

The stories, voices, and histories of Black people should be centered every day – not just one month out of the year. And challenging systemic racism is a year-round commitment at ELC. But the establishment of February as Black History Month was an organized, Black-led effort to elevate the work of celebrating Black accomplishments, honoring Black voices, and teaching accurate history. It is an annual reminder to continue this work.

ELC celebrates and supports the brave, important efforts of Black students, educators, parents, and advocates who have worked and continue to work to create affirming, antiracist schools. One notable example of this work in 2023 was our report, We Need Supportive Spaces That Celebrate Us: Black Girls Speak Out About Public Schools.

Please check ELC’s social media accounts for activities and materials all month — to learn and to get involved. Once again this year, we highlight the resources available through the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, which this year is Feb. 5-9 and includes events and projects for both students and educators. 

for Students in Hospital Settings 

ELC recently filed a special education due process complaint on behalf of a student in foster care, “Jay,” who was deprived of educational services for nearly two years while in a psychiatric hospital in Philadelphia. Sadly, Jay’s experience is not isolated. Through our Helpline and other work, we have learned that many children in hospital settings are being deprived of their rights, despite clear state and federal laws that entitle students to special education services while they are hospitalized.

Many of those who are deprived of education while receiving needed care are Black or Brown children and youth. Due to biases in the child welfare and education systems, students of color are overrepresented in foster care and are often inadequately or inappropriately provided special education services; they also experience mental health crises at higher rates due to poverty and systemic racism in multiple systems, including healthcare. Students languish for months and sometimes years in hospital settings without education services and are often unsupported when they transition back to their schools after being hospitalized.

ELC is providing representation to Jay’s education decision maker in this due process hearing against both a school district and the state to enforce Jay’s educational rights as well as to challenge the systemic concerns that result in the deprivation of educational services for all students who are in hospital settings. ELC Skadden Fellow Makayla Harrison is focused on representing students in psychiatric facilities like Jay to ensure their access to a quality public education. 

Over 500 former students of Glen Mills Schools submitted claims over the last year to establish their eligibility for compensatory education and education damages based on the harm they experienced while at Glen Mills. Last January, the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) approved a $3 million settlement agreement to resolve education-related claims asserted against them in our Glen Mills class action lawsuit.

 

Under the agreement, former Glen Mills students will receive cash payments, compensatory education services, or a combination of these remedies to address education deprivations they experienced while at Glen Mills.

Pro bono counsel at Troutman Pepper worked tirelessly over the past year to notify eligible former Glen Mills students. Pro bono counsel at J.M. Smucker will now review all submitted claims and determine eligibility for awards based on how long each student was at Glen Mills. We are so grateful to Troutman Pepper, led by Sara Richman and Madeline Moore, the J.M. Smucker legal department, and the pro bono team at Vanguard for their commitment to ensuring that former students receive some relief for the harm they experienced at Glen Mills.

Our ongoing class action suit includes education and abuse claims against the Glen Mills Schools, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, former leaders of the Department of Human Services, and individual defendants. 

With the state funding system ruled unconstitutional and remaining unremedied, state officials must focus on their constitutional duty to fully fund our underfunded schools, where generations of students have been deprived of basic school resources. As ELC has advocated, Pennsylvania needs to reject vouchers and stay focused on repairing its public schools.

We are excited and honored that the Pittsburgh Steelers selected ELC as a recipient of their Social Justice Fund. This is a fund where both individual players and the Steelers organization contribute to local groups addressing key social justice issues. ELC senior attorney Hetal Dhagat (second from right) was presented with a donation from Steelers Breiden Fehoko and George Pickens, along with a matching commitment from the Steelers. Thank you to the entire Steelers organization for supporting our work.

I’ve been a fan for a long time, following their work in education policy and legislation for over 15 years. Becoming a board member was a wonderful opportunity for me to be connected in more concrete, tangible ways.

The anniversary of the Commonwealth Court ruling is coming up – any thoughts?

The Basic Education Funding Commission’s report is monumental in terms of setting some numbers to concepts that have been fought over for over a decade. Education is a fundamental right that everyone should have access to, and yet here we are. These are systemically, culturally created ways of living in the world that I think are really damaging and harmful – disproportionately damaging to people of color, people with disabilities, low-income folks, and everyone who occupies multiple intersections of those categories. ELC has been steadfast in trying to be both a bridge-builder and advocate. Things must change and things will change, but we must stay very vigilant around the micro and macro ways obstacles are put in front of people who are part of that long arc of justice.

Christine Porter (she/her) is a staff attorney in ELC’s Pittsburgh office. She was previously the deputy director of the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Juvenile Division, where she designed the division’s first education advocacy program. Christine has represented families as an education attorney with a private firm in Seattle and practiced disability and elder law with Neighborhood Legal Services in Pittsburgh. She has served on the boards of nonprofits advocating for juvenile justice reform and for the rights of individuals with disabilities.

Abigail Leighton (she/they) is the intake coordinator at the Philadelphia office of the Education Law Center. She is a recent graduate of Yale University, where she studied history, education studies, and Spanish.

Alex Leone is a second-year student at Temple University Beasley School of Law and a Rubin Presser Social Justice Fellow. Before law school, she worked in education and at early-stage startup companies while pursuing her M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College. She hopes to pursue a career in special education law, focusing on protecting the rights of students and their families.

Angela Sadat is a second-year student at Temple University Beasley School of Law. Angela attended the University of Florida, where she became passionate about advocating for marginalized communities. After graduation, Angela worked toward educational equity by serving as an elementary school teacher in her hometown of Orlando and as a volunteer teacher in a rural community in Ghana.

Cally Gant is a second-year student at Temple University Beasley School of Law. Cally received her bachelor’s degree in social studies secondary education from the University of Delaware. Before attending law school, Cally was a substitute teacher in Montgomery County, where she taught students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Cathy Ginder is a third-year, part-time student at Temple University Beasley School of Law. Prior to law school, she and her spouse were foster parents for both Berks County and Lancaster County. She has spent many years advocating for the special education needs of her own children and anticipates doing the same in the future for children in Pennsylvania’s dependency system.

Emma Gabriel, our communications intern, is a junior at Swarthmore College, where she studies history and education. Emma enjoys serving as a mentor and tutor to high school students and running Swarthmore's undergraduate history journal. She would like to become an educator, continuing to focus on issues related to education equity and access.

Check Out Our Job Postings!

ELC is seeking a director of our Western Pennsylvania office in Pittsburgh.

See our website for a description of internship opportunities at ELC.

Civil Rights Community Releases Civil Rights Principles for Multilingual Learner Education by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

In 1974, the Supreme Court Recognized English Learners’ Rights. The Story Behind That Case by Mark Walsh for Education Week.

Racism in Philly suburban schools isn’t new and is a symptom of a deeper malady by Benjamin Herold for the Philadelphia Inquirer.