News Archives 2009

Education Law Center Attorneys in the News

Two recent news items feature quotes from Managing Attorney Nancy Hubley and Director of Policy Advocacy Baruch Kintisch:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dec. 19, 2009
Somali refugee celebrates long road to citizenship

Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
Dec. 17, 2009
Special education funding formula inequity in action

Education Law Center School Reform Associate Honored for Advocacy Work

The Education Law Center's School Reform Associate Sandy Zelno received the Excellence in Advocacy Award on Dec. 7 from ACHIEVA, a western Pennsylvania provider of services and supports for children and adults with disanbilities. The award honors Zelno's work on behalf of people with disabilities, particularly in the area of public education policy reform.

The event’s program praised Zelno for her history of working on education policy and school reform: “Through her broad-based statewide and local advocacy work over several decades, she has provided technical assistance to help motivate grassroots activists to shape public policy—especially that which directly impacts disadvantaged students.”

ELC Co-Director Examines Legal Rights of English Language Learners
The December 3, 2009 Summit on Education Excellence for Latino Students featured Education Law Center Co-Director Len Rieser examining current problems and possible solutions regarding the legal rights of English language learners.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Governor's Advisory Committee on Latino Affaris, and the Center for School and Communities sponsored the Summit.

To view the PowerPoint presentation featured in this session, or to learn more about this topic, please visit our publications and law and policy pages on English Language Learners

PA Department of Education Releases Guide to Student Enrollment
The Education Law Center has been working with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to require local school districts to enroll children in school quickly. The Department has issued new guidance, in the form of a Q&A, on school enrollment rules. The Questions and Answers are provided to assist parents, school districts and charter schools in the student enrollment process.

Training Materials from the Education Law Center
The Education Law Center recently provided a telephone conference and Webinar training on Section 504, a federal civil rights law that can help children with disabilities get the accommodations, supports, and services they need in school, even if they do not qualify for special education. View the full presentation, a sample letter to request a 504 Plan, and an example of what a 504 Plan looks like.

State Budget News: Stimulus Funds Keep PA School Improvement on Track
The Governor and the General Assembly, with some help from the federal stimulus package, agreed to a 2009-10 education budget that maintains the new adequacy formula adopted in 2008, provides new resources for local improvements to basic education programs, and keeps the state on track toward the long-term objective of more equitable state funding for public education. Read more...

Education Law Center sues PA Dept. of Ed. and local school district for violating federal law
The Education Law Center filed a lawsuit Oct. 6, 2009 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania seeking to prevent the disenrollment of four children from Allegheny County’s Carlynton School District.

Joining the Education Law Center in this complaint is the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

“The economic crisis has forced some Pennsylvania families out of their homes, but it should not force children out of school,” said Education Law Center Attorney Nancy Hubley. “The law protects the rights of homeless children to attend public school.”

New Toolkit for Juvenile Justice Professionals
With financial support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Education Law Center has published an updated version of its Educational Aftercare & Reintegration Toolkit for Juvenile Justice Professionals.

Youth who are adjudicated delinquent frequently encounter problems in obtaining appropriate education services in placement, as well as when they are released and reintegrated into their communities. The Toolkit provides the basic information and resources needed to help juvenile probation officers and other juvenile justice professionals in Pennsylvania overcome (or at least minimize) these problems.
Read more.

The Education Law Center: Training leaders for tomorrow
The Education Law Center, the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, and the Juvenile Law Center are working together on a multi-year project that will provide education and training to persons with disabilities, their family members, and other advocates on a wide-range of disability law and policy issues. DRN, ELC, and JLC are fortunate to have the generous support of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council for this project.

The project, called “Train Leaders for Tomorrow,” will provide trainings and educational materials on disability rights. Read more.

The Education Law Center and Good Schools PA: Keep school improvements in place
Video screen shot Pennsylvania made historic progress in 2008 when the state approved a new school funding formula and accountability system that begin to address the inequities experienced by students and communities. What should not get lost in the current budget debate is the importance of those reforms. These videos are a reminder to maintain and promote those key school improvements: Videos.

Testimony on Pennsylvania's Alternative Education Programs
Education Law Center Attorney Deborah Gordon Klehr recently delivered testimony on deficiencies in the state's alternative education statute to members of the Senate Education Committee.

"We have no doubt that there are some promising practices right here in Pennsylvania. But our current statute and funding mechanism do not weed out the ineffective, purely punitive programs from the effective, rehabilitating ones."

Read the entire testimony, recommended amendments to Pennsylvania's alternative education statute, and a letter from a student in one of the state's alternative schools.

For more information, or to submit a letter about attending an alternative school, contact Deborah Gordon Klehr.

Legislative Updates

HB 704 and SB 940 reform Pennsylvania's special education funding and accountabilty. See the latest information on the bills at:
reformspecialedfunding.org.
HR 2740 — Federal legislation that helps parents who use the special education hearing system. Several years ago, the United States Supreme Court held that, although parents could get the school district to pay them back for their lawyers fees if the family wins at a special education hearing, the family cannot get back the cost of expert witnesses. U.S. Congressmen Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sessions (R-TX) have introduced legislation that would change this rule. See the details on this COPAA alert here, and tell these Congressional leaders that you support them. When we have more details and some next steps to support this Bill, we’ll post it and sent it around.
SB 56 — The Education Law Center, the Disabilities Rights Network, the Juvenile Law Center and other youth and education advocates throughout the state oppose this legislation, particularly the portion of the bill that requires schools to notify police in every instance when children commit an offense on school grounds. Read the letter opposing provisions of SB 56 and read the proposed amendments to the bill.

Funding and Accountability Success Stories
The Education Law Center, Good Schools Pennsylvania, community leaders, parents and students throughout Pennsylvania delivered school funding and accountability success stories on Tuesday, May 26 to the House Education Committee. Much of the hearing testimony can be found in Basic Education Funding and Accountability: Year One Results, a compelling report on the first-year benefits from Act 61, which created an equitable funding and accountability system for Pennsylvania's public schools.

Community Account Success Stories from PA's Education Investment
Since last summer, the Education Law Center and other members of the Cross City Campaign for School Reform received testimony from hundreds of education stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, principals, business leaders, faith leaders, and other concerned taxpaying citizens from Southeast Pennsylvania. As part of this process, we have evaluated many Southeast Pennsylvania School District PA-PACT plans and monitored their implementation. Where we found problems, we’ve communicated concerns to school district administrations. But more often, we found successful education investments. The testimonies in this Community Account are examples of wise, responsible education investments and the positive changes they've created. These stories illustrate what is possible when all students have an education supported by adequate resources.

elc network map Connect to ELC's statewide networks. The Education Law Center works with parent and community groups, faith-based organizations, minority and civil rights groups, special education advocates, and other organizations throughout Pennsylvania. The Education Law Center is also a sole and co-organizer of statewide advocacy campaigns. View our interactive networks map to find a group in your region.

Federal Stimulus Funding for Education
Read our Position Statement and Summary of the Federal Stimulus Education Investments. Read our Analysis of the Federal Stimulus Package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

Read our Scranton Times-Tribune Op-Ed on federal education stimulus spending.

Stimulus Web Links:
General Federal Site
Federal Education Details
General State Site
State Ed. Details

Enrolling students in school – especially students who do not live with their parents or are homeless – should get easier as a result of a new Basic Education Circular issued January 22. The “BEC” spells out what schools can and cannot require from students seeking enrollment. Among the things schools can’t require are proof of legal custody or guardianship (except in certain situations); social security numbers; visa information; and prior school records. The BEC also explains the rules that apply to children in foster homes, homeless children, and children in other situations. The BEC followed an ELC complaint concerning mistakes, delays, abuses experienced by children seeking to enroll in school. For information, contact Maura McInerney.

Opting your child out of special education is now possible under new federal rules. Regulations issued in December say that parents have the final say over whether their child will continue to receive special education services.

top

Your contribution will help us!