ELC Report Calls for ‘Fixing the
Special Education Funding Gap’
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A new report, Fixing the Special Education Funding Gap, written by ELC in partnership with the statewide PA Schools Work coalition, details the large decline in the state share of special education funding over the past decade. Inadequate funding for basic education and special education programs creates a dual funding gap, one that particularly affects students in low-wealth school districts. These are the districts that serve most of Pennsylvania’s Black and Brown students, who are already disproportionately impacted by the state’s underfunding of public education.
The report calls for the state to make a substantial multi-year financial commitment to close the gap. Read the report here and the executive summary here. Find data for each of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts here. The report garnered press coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chalkbeat, and several TV stations statewide.
We delivered the report to each legislator in Harrisburg, accompanied by a letter signed by 65 organizations and individuals, urging the legislature to adequately fund special education and basic education in this year’s budget to begin to meet the needs of students with disabilities across Pennsylvania.
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June Is Key for Budget Advocacy |
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It’s June, which means it is budget negotiation season in Harrisburg. ELC joins our statewide advocacy partners in asking the legislature to support additional funds for our students and districts: $1.25 billion in new funding for basic education funding, distributed through the fair funding formula to all 500 school districts; $300 million in new Level Up funding to the 100 districts furthest from adequacy; $200 million in new special education funding; and $70 million in additional funding for early childhood education.
The legislature must act today to address the growing equity and adequacy gaps our students and districts face. Contact your legislators to support those four key elements of a just education budget.
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ELC’s executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr joins statewide leaders in demanding significant increases in state funding for public schools at a May rally for fair funding. |
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Amicus Briefs: More Support
for Our School Funding Case
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Demonstrating the breadth and depth of support for our school funding lawsuit, six different amicus briefs were filed in support of our case in May in Commonwealth Court. All six agree that the General Assembly is not fulfilling its constitutional duty to Pennsylvania’s students.
Earlier in May, all the parties to the case filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law with the court. Our 554-page filing is a powerful summary of the extensive record from the trial, compiling key evidence that supports the case for adequate and equitable funding. Our post-trial brief on the legal issues in the case will be filed today! Coming up on July 26: Oral argument in Commonwealth Court on the legal issues. A ruling in the case could come several months after oral argument.
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We Must Address Racist Violence, School Shootings [Trigger Warning: Gun Violence] |
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We join in grieving for all the victims of the deadly racist attacks in Buffalo that targeted the city’s Black East Side community. We vow to continue to challenge racist ideologies that motivate these hate-filled attacks.
We also join in mourning the senseless violence in Uvalde, Texas, resulting in the death of at least 19 children and 2 adults at Robb Elementary School. We vow to continue to do our part to seek to stop gun violence and the toll it continues to take in our schools and in our communities. The time for systemic and broad reform is now. See our statement here.
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ELC is coordinating with the ACLU, the Bucks County NAACP, the ADL, Red Wine and Blue, Education Voters of PA, and others to support families in local advocacy efforts in support of teaching truth and maintaining diverse and inclusive resources that are reflective of our communities. |
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In Central Bucks, Fighting Book
Bans and Supporting LGBTQ Students
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ELC sent an open letter to the school board of the Central Bucks School District, addressing concerns raised to us by parents of district students about the rights of LGBTQ students and about alarming proposals for discriminatory board policies like book bans.
ELC's letter was a resource for parents fighting the proposed policy. We will continue to work with them as the policy moves toward a board vote in July.
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Speaking Out Against Legislation
Targeting Transgender Athletes
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ELC is urging the Pennsylvania Senate to vote no on HB 972, a harmful, discriminatory piece of legislation that would interfere with the rights of transgender students to participate with the team that corresponds with the student’s gender identity in school-sponsored sports in Pennsylvania high schools and colleges.
The bill, which passed the Pennsylvania House, and more recently the Senate Education Committee, is positioned for a vote this month. It allows any student who is “harmed” by transgender students’ participation to initiate litigation against a school or college. The bill compels athletic programs to enforce rules that violate students’ rights and could put schools in conflict with their sport’s governing bodies.
“Worst of all, the bill shows a complete lack of compassion and understanding for thousands of students who are transgender,” ELC wrote in a recent letter to the Senate Education Committee. “These young people just want to be their true selves and be treated fairly in school. Transgender students in Pennsylvania face high rates of discrimination and harassment in schools.” While Governor Wolf has said he will veto the measure, individuals should contact their lawmakers to express opposition to the bill and show support for students. ELC will continue to oppose these discriminatory and harmful bills.
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Act 1: Eliminating Barriers and
Expanding Graduation Pathways
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In time for graduation season, ELC and Juvenile Law Center held a May webinar to share information about an important new Pennsylvania law, Act 1 of 2022. The law, for which we advocated, will help more students graduate by providing new protections to students who experience “education instability” due to homelessness, involvement in the foster care or juvenile justice systems, or court-ordered placements. This law removes barriers to fully participating in school and ensures that students are not penalized due to lost or unrecognized credits or the inability to take a course required by their current school.
As explained by Pennsylvania’s Department of Education’s new guidance on Act 1, a key purpose of this law is to ensure eligible students “graduate high school on time and successfully transition to postsecondary education or the workforce.” Beginning this school year, students will have expanded pathways to graduation at their current school. If this is not possible, students can graduate with a diploma from a prior school if they meet their prior school’s graduation requirements instead.
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ELC’s Act 1 Advocacy Makes a Difference
Over the past two months, ELC Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellow Ashli Giles-Perkins worked with a client transitioning back from a juvenile justice placement who was told he was ineligible to graduate on time due to insufficient credits related to multiple school changes this year. Relying on the protections of Act 1, Ashli carefully reviewed his transcript and advocated for awarding the student full credit for courses completed and a waiver of the remaining .05 credit needed to graduate. As a result of Ashli’s advocacy, the student will graduate with his classmates in two weeks!
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Our Pittsburgh director, Nancy A. Hubley, will be leaving the Education Law Center to retire this Friday, June 3, after nearly 38 years at ELC.
As a civil rights lawyer committed to education justice and to work that is informed and led by parents, students, and community partners, Nancy has pursued ELC’s mission to ensure all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education. Her advocacy has created and enforced legal rights for children, beginning in early childhood, and increased access and equity in public education for the most underserved students. We are grateful for Nancy’s exceptional contributions and for her leadership. We know you join us in thanking her and wishing her well.
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ELC is pleased to welcome a talented team of rising third-year law students as summer interns:
Hattie Dougherty is a student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she serves as a managing editor on the Law Review. She previously interned with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending sexual exploitation in the United States. Prior to law school, Hattie taught third and fourth grade in High Point, N.C.
Francisco Manriquez is a student at CUNY School of Law. He previously interned with RAICES in Austin, Texas, a legal nonprofit dedicated to defending the rights of immigrant youth. Prior to law school, he worked as a high school history teacher at various charter schools in New York.
Ivy Moore is a student at Duke University School of Law. She has previously advocated for students with disabilities through her work at the Children’s Law Clinic and the Right to Education Project. She also serves as a guardian ad litem for children in foster care. While in college, she volunteered in a bilingual classroom and an after-school program for low-income youth.
Matt Rawson is a student at Georgetown Law. He has interned for Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc., and the Mississippi Center for Justice. Prior to law school, he earned an M.A. in education policy at Harvard, where he interned for Massachusetts Advocates for Children and volunteered with the Petey Greene Program. He has also worked in secondary school admissions.
Michaela Shuchman is a student at New York University School of Law. Raised in Philadelphia, Michaela is a Swarthmore College graduate and was an actor and teaching artist in the Philly area. At NYU, she serves as an editor on the Review of Law and Social Change and on the boards of the Suspension Representation Project and the Education Law and Policy Society.
Thank you to our departing interns: to Trinity Townsend for a year of service to ELC and to Pat Zancolli and Robert Watson for their help this spring!
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Join Our Team: We're Hiring! |
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ELC seeks to sponsor applicants for postgraduate legal fellowships to start in the fall of 2023. Preference will be given to applications received by July 1, 2022.
ELC is seeking a director of our Western Pennsylvania office in Pittsburgh, who will report to the executive director in Philadelphia. The candidate should have a demonstrated commitment to public interest law, civil rights, racial justice, and advancing the rights of underserved populations. The Pittsburgh director provides leadership and direction to the Pittsburgh office, including overseeing direct service to underserved students, participating in local and statewide policy advocacy and litigation, building and strengthening community partnerships, and engaging with funders and board members.
See our website for a full description of job and internship opportunities at ELC.
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Join us September 29, 2022, as we celebrate
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Education Law Center | 215-238-6970 (Philadelphia)| 412-258-2120 (Pittsburgh)| |
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A copy of the official registration and financial information of the Education Law Center may be obtained from the Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-880-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. |
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