state who lack basic educational supports and services – such as functioning school libraries, up-to-date textbooks and curriculum materials, reasonable class sizes, guidance counselors, school nurses, vocational ed and college…
Moremoney-hungry school districts argued today before the Commonwealth Court at Harrisburg. “We argued today in court the schoolchildren of Pennsylvania have an enforceable right to be heard,” said Maura McInerney,…
Morelegislative policy determination,” Judge Dan Pellegrini wrote for the court. But the plaintiffs — including several school districts and the parents of some Philadelphia school children — said the Pennsylvania…
MoreThe Education Law Center sent an open letter to Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission expressing renewed concern about issues of equity and universal access at Philadelphia charter schools. Data from the…
More§ 300.322(e) and (f); 34 CFR§ 300.503(c)(1)(ii). 2 Right to Attend School Right to Be Free From Bullying & Harassment in School Rights of English Language Learners (ELLs) in School…
Moregraders during the 2015-16 school year. As many of these suspensions are likely longer than one day, this means that elementary-aged students missed well over 10,000 days of school due…
MoreA LANDMARK DECISION: EDUCATION IS A ‘FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT’ On Feb. 7, 2023, Commonwealth Court Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer issued a historic ruling in the Pennsylvania school funding case, declaring the PA school funding…
MoreIn many ways, the District is already on that path – with community schools and the new suspension policy. We must stay focused on ending the disproportionate school removal, pushout,…
More…wrote anonymously in a school-climate survey that the teachers’ union, the Cheltenham Educators’ Association, delivered to high school and district administrators in February. “If teachers try to discipline them for…
Moremonth, Philadelphia education advocates on Wednesday called on the state legislature to pump $400 million in new money into 2016-17 school budgets. If the request becomes reality, the city School…
Morefor a school district’s wealth. The relative lack of local wealth in communities serving at-risk students has led many school districts to tax their communities at markedly higher rates than…
Morepencil is not a weapon within the definition of the School Code or the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Code of Student Conduct. The Court agreed with the Education Law Center’s attorneys…
MoreCharter schools are public schools and cannot discriminate against students. Charter schools must comply with the same enrollment requirements applicable to district schools. This demand letter, provided to Franklin Towne…
MoreOur public school funding system fails to provide enough resources to educate all students to academic standards, produces racial disparities and a wide gap between the wealthiest and poorest schools,…
Moreschool libraries for student achievement. Members of the committee also heard testimony on the results of a 2011 study by the State Board of Education assessing Pennsylvania’s public school libraries….
Moreexperience of other states that school funding lawsuits have been strikingly successful at moving the needle toward fairness,” she wrote. “Decisions in such lawsuits spur more state revenue for schools,…
MoreELC Research and Policy Fellow Ian Gavigan’s testimony presented to Philadelphia City Council on the importance of predictable school funding to serve the most at-risk children in the Philadelphia School…
MoreThe Education Law Center applauds Pittsburgh Public Schools and the School District of Philadelphia for protecting the rights of transgender students with new policies enacted this month. The two largest…
MoreOn Wednesday, March 14, students nationwide participated in a National School Walkout to show solidarity with Parkland students and bring attention to Congress’s inaction towards gun violence. View our National…
MoreELC Executive Director Deborah Gordon Klehr writes about the bias in school discipline against students of color and argues that school suspensions in under-resourced schools often do more harm than…
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