February 21, 2014 – Based on the Education Law Center’s legal complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into discriminatory placement of students in Pennsylvania’s Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth programs.
Education Law Center
Corbett’s ‘Ready to Learn’ education budget favors wealthier schools, advocates say
February 7, 2014 – by Kevin McCorry, Newsworks – Here’s an accurate headline you could have written about Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget address earlier this week: Corbett calls for $387 million in increased state education funding.
But many education advocates are quick to say that hardly tells the full story.
ELC Statement on Governor’s 2014-15 Budget Proposal
February 6, 2014 – Governor Corbett’s education budget proposal includes welcome increases for special education and early learning but ignores the need for a stable and comprehensive approach to education funding.
Easton Students Return to School; Lawsuit Resolved
January 16, 2014 – Teenage brothers, who were disenrolled from the Easton Area School District because their family was experiencing homelessness, are back in school as a result of legal action by the Education Law Center.
The Law Center filed the case in early December when the students — one of whom is in 12th grade — were abruptly disenrolled from Easton Area High School because they lived with their parents in a camper outside the district.
“The federal McKinney-Vento Act requires school districts to continue to educate students experiencing homelessness even when they are living outside their prior district. The Act also requires the state to ensure that school districts comply with this law in part by resolving enrollment disputes,” said Maura McInerney, ELC Staff Attorney.
In response to ELC’s motion for a preliminary injunction and presentation of the dispute to the court, the District agreed to re-enroll the children days later.
A record number of public school students have become homeless in Pennsylvania and in the nation, putting more than 1.1 million children nationally at increased risk of falling behind in school, dropping out and perpetuating the cycle of homelessness. In Pennsylvania, the number of K-12 students experiencing homelessness increased to 19,905 in 2012 from 18,531 the previous year, an increase of 7 percent. In the nation, the number of homeless students increased by 10 percent, according to October 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Education.
The Law Center has urged the state to adopt guidance to improve the dispute resolution process for families and to ensure that what happened to these students will not happen to others.
“We have asked the state to issue guidance explaining that school districts cannot unilaterally disenroll students based on the duration of homelessness, and that families must be notified — in writing — of the basis of any decision to deny enrollment, including the resolution of appeals to the state. Children have the right to stay in school as long as a dispute is pending,” said McInerney.
The family has since secured permanent housing within the District, and ELC has withdrawn its lawsuit.
“This is a terrific outcome for these students and this family,” said McInerney.
CONTACT:
Brett Schaeffer
Education Law Center
[email protected]
Office: 215-238-6970 ext. 334
Mobile: 215-519-6522
ELC Webinar January 22, 2014
Join Education Law Center attorney Maura McInerney as she presents a webinar for families of students with disabilities who are home schooled, educated in cyber charter schools, charter schools, private schools or parochial schools.
Activists: Education funding debate likely to return to court
January 08, 2014 – Solomon Leach, Philadelphia Daily News – The battle over fair and equitable school funding in Pennsylvania will soon be headed back to court, activists said yesterday.
Temple prof: Pa. cyber charters turning huge profits, sending tax dollars out of state
January 6, 2014 – Kevin McCorry, Newsworks - Fewer teachers. No school building. No heating bill. Same cost. You’d think Pennsylvania’s 16 cyber-charter schools, which teach home-based students via the Web, would spend a lot less per student than bricks and mortar schools. Not so.
Education for Kids in Care: What Judges and Attorneys Need to Know
On December 16, Juvenile Law Center and Education Law Center-PA hosted a webinar to provide information on how to protect and advance the education rights of your clients through effective courtroom practices. This webinar is targeted to family court judges, attorneys, court staff, and other child-serving professionals.
Homeless students suing Easton Area School District can return to school pending judge’s ruling
December 12, 2013 – by Peter Panepinto, The Express-Times – Two Easton Area School District students who were kicked out of the district on Monday because they are homeless and staying outside the district will be allowed to return to school pending a judge’s ruling on their lawsuit.
Nonprofit calls for moratorium on cyber charters
November 23, 2013 – By Martha Woodall, Philadelphia Inquirer – The Education Law Center on Thursday urged the Pennsylvania Department of Education to deny applications for six new cyber charter schools, saying the cyber charter model doesn’t work.
A criminalized school climate is the wrong path
November 20, 2013 – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – In the Nov. 15 article on the decrease in court referrals from Brashear High School (“Concerns Raised Over Brashear Discipline”), Magistrate District Judge James A. Motznik presents the wrong solution for the wrong problem. Instead of advocating for increased court referrals, local judges should be pushing for smart school climate reforms that dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline while making schools safer.
Read the complete letter:
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2013/11/21/A-criminalized-school-climate-is-the-wrong-path/stories/201311210127
ELC Named Racial Justice Award Winner
November 13 , 2013 – On Wednesday, November 13th, the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh honored the Education Law Center as its 2013 awardee for its Legal Racial Justice Award.
New PA Policies to Improve Early Education Access for Students Experiencing Homelessness
May 15, 2013 – New policy guidance issued last week by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning improves access to early learning opportunities for homeless children under the age of six.
This policy sets new standards for interagency collaboration at state and local levels to identify young children experiencing homelessness across service systems and ensure access to quality early learning programs, such as Head Start and Early Intervention.
“We are so pleased that OCDEL has stepped forward to provide important vision and leadership that will help ensure that young children experiencing homelessness get the supports and services to which they are entitled and desperately need,” said the Education Law Center’s Nancy A. Hubley, Managing Attorney for ELC’s Pittsburgh office.
Hubley works closely with the Bridges Collaborative — a network of early childhood and homeless advocates — to address the lack of education access for these young children.
According to OCDEL, more than 40 percent of Pennsylvania’s homeless children are under the age of six.
“This policy,” Hubley added, “will help ensure that staff of social service agencies, including housing programs and early childhood providers, are aware of which children are to be considered homeless and the legal rights that accompany them.”
OCDEL’s guidelines reiterate the federal requirements for supporting homeless students, as detailed across federal and state laws such as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
The act, which became law in 1987, ensures that “each child of an individual who is homeless and each youth who is homeless have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youth.”
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The Education Law Center in non-profit legal advocacy organization, dedicated to ensuring that all of Pennsylvania’s children have access to a quality public education.
CONTACT:
Brett Schaefer
Education Law Center
Office: 215-238-6970 ext. 334
Mobile: 215-519-6522
[email protected]
Pa. charter reform bill advances, draws criticism
November 4, 2013 – By Kathy Matheson and Marc Levy, Associated Press – A bill to overhaul Pennsylvania’s charter school law would gut local control of the alternative schools by eliminating enrollment caps and giving universities the power to authorize new charters, opponents said Monday.
ELC 2013 Annual Event slideshow
Photos from the Education Law Center’s 2013 Annual Event, featuring renowned civil rights attorney Morris Dees and honoring education advocates Barbara Minzenberg and members of the Philadelphia Student Union.
Photography by Peter Tobia.
Coatesville parents, residents tell NAACP of district bias
October 17, 2013 – by Michaelle Bond, Inquirer Staff Writer –
Parents and residents of the Coatesville Area School District testified at an NAACP public hearing Tuesday that the district had shown a pattern of discrimination against certain types of students over the years.
Read the full story:
http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-17/news/43110099_1_state-naacp-minority-students-safiya-edwards
Trying to live up to special-ed law amid the Philly school budget crisis
October 16, 2013 – by Kevin McCorry –
The Philadelphia School District has at least 20,000 evaluated special-needs students. Each year, the district pays millions in legal fees and lawsuit settlements based on its failure, both proven and alleged, to meet their needs. This year, due to budget cuts, the district shed close to 3,000 staff members.
Read the full story:
https://whyy.org/articles/trying-to-live-up-to-special-ed-law-amid-the-philly-school-budget-crisis/
At symposium, a call for state education funding formula
October 10, 2013 – by Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer –
If the Pennsylvania Legislature had not scrapped a statewide education-funding formula in 2011 it had approved three years earlier, the Philadelphia School District would have received $360 million more in state aid this year and would not be in a fiscal crisis now, an expert said Wednesday.
Read the full story:
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131010_At_symposium__a_call_for_more_state_education_funding.html
Pa. advocates gear up for education funding push
October 01, 2013 – by Susan Snyder, Inquirer Staff Writer –
Its music program was eliminated, 12 percent of its teaching force laid off, and its junior high sports program was slashed. “Cuts at the state level just kill us,” said Jim Duffy, superintendent of the Fannett-Metal School District, a small system in south-central Pennsylvania.
Read the full story:
http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-01/news/42539843_1_districts-school-funding-chief-education-officer
Our View: Fix state’s broken education system
August 23, 2013 – Carlisle Sentinel Editorial –
It’s no surprise that a Sentinel story about No Child Left Behind waivers turned into a larger discussion about Pennsylvania’s funding of public schools. Continue reading