About Us: What is ELC?
For thirty years, the Education Law Center (ELC) has worked to make good public education a reality for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable students –poor children, children of color, kids with disabilities, English language learners, children in foster homes and institutions, and others.
ELC began as - and still is - a legal advocacy organization. Our staff provides information on the legal rights of public school students, help with problem-solving, written materials, and contacts. In some cases involving large numbers of children, we provide legal representation (though we are, of course, able to do this in only a relatively small number of cases). Our achievements include significant legal victories for public school families.
But ELC is more than a law office. Over time, our strategies have come to include not just legal work, but also training and information-sharing; advocating for children in Harrisburg and Washington; and working with media. We're especially proud of our growing number of collaborations with citizen groups around the state, with whom we are seeking change both locally and at the state level.
ELC's goals have also evolved over time. In the early '90s, for example, we created the Pennsylvania School Reform Network. PSRN was our route into a number of new projects, including efforts to fix Pennsylvania's shockingly unfair school funding system and to narrow the "achievement gaps" that affect poor children and other disadvantaged groups. Over time, PSRN has ceased to be a separate project, but its priorities continue to be ELC's priorities.
ELC's services are free, which means that fund-raising is always a top concern. We have been fortunate to have many generous funders. We also rely heavily on individuals, whose contributions allow us to provide services that other funders are unable to support. We hope you'll make a donation to help keep our services available. And we appreciate your interest in our work.