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May is a critical month for supporters of adequate and equitable funding as legislators in Harrisburg weigh Gov. Shapiro’s proposal to implement year 1 of a much-needed plan to close the state’s unconstitutional funding adequacy gaps. We must ensure legislative support for the governor’s proposed historic $1.1 billion increase in state funding for schools in the 2024-25 budget and for a long-term plan to close the state’s funding gaps.

On May 8, the statewide PA Schools Work coalition is holding an advocacy day at the Capitol. And on four Mondays in May and June, the coalition is organizing a “virtual phone bank to support PA public school funding.” We encourage you to participate with us in this unprecedented opportunity to advocate for a budget that is truly worth fighting for. The General Assembly is required by law to adopt a budget by June 30.

The coalition has prepared fact sheets for each school district in Pennsylvania, showing how districts will benefit from the budget proposal and the seven-year funding plan developed by the Basic Education Funding Commission. Find out how much your school district stands to gain from the proposed budget here.

The February 2023 Commonwealth Court ruling declaring Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional and what has happened since were the topics of the 2024 Goldberg/Christman Lecture in Education Law at the University of Pennsylvania on April 9. ELC executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr and fellow panelists detailed the significance of the decision, which declared education a “fundamental right,” while emphasizing that this decisive ruling must still be buttressed by public demands to ensure that elected officials implement the necessary changes.

ELC executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr (third from left), with fellow presenters at the Goldberg-Christman Lecture April 9 at Penn Law. 

Strengthen Antidiscrimination Protections 

The U.S. Department of Education released long-awaited new regulations under Title IX on April 19, prohibiting sex discrimination in all public schools. The new rules will be effective for the 2024-25 school year. They clarify that LGBTQ+ students, pregnant and parenting students, and student survivors of sexual harassment have comprehensive legal protections against discrimination in school.  

While the published rules do not specifically address school athletics, there is a clear statement that discrimination against LGBTQ students is prohibited. The U.S. Department of Education issued a separate proposed rule on transgender sports that is not yet final. The proposed athletics rule would prohibit blanket bans on transgender students participating in sports aligned with their gender identity.

Look for updated fact sheets and know-your-rights presentations from ELC on these issues as well as updates on potential legal challenges. Contact ELC’s Helpline for individual advice.  

Race and Disability Discrimination 

Rights of Trans and Gender-Diverse Students 

ELC testified before the board of education of Pittsburgh Public Schools on April 22, calling for increased transparency and a focus on equity in its facilities utilization plan. A newly unveiled proposal from the board may result in the consolidation of schools. Past school closures have not been equitable, most heavily targeting schools serving predominantly Black and Brown students. 

ELC is excited to announce the next chapter of our Black Girls Education Justice Initiative: the Supportive Spaces Advocacy Institute. Our goal is to create a space for student experts who have experience with Black girlhood and attended middle and/or high school in Pennsylvania public schools — and an opportunity to share their experiences and organize for change. 

The institute will offer an interactive overview of students’ education rights, including an opportunity to engage with recommendations set forth in our groundbreaking report, We Need Supportive Spaces that Celebrate Us: Black Girls Speak Out About Public Schools.  

You can listen to a lively interview on WITF’s program The Spark, with ELC staff attorney Paige Joki, who leads our Black Girls Education Justice Initiative, explaining the initiative, the forthcoming institute, and issues facing Black girls in school.  

We invite organizational leaders to contact us for more information about the event and how student experts and organizations who champion the leadership and rights of Black girls can get involved.  

Nearly 500 former students of the Glen Mills Schools have been awarded compensatory education and education damages based on the harm they experienced while at Glen Mills. Last year, the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) approved a $3 million settlement agreement to resolve education-related claims asserted against them in our Glen Mills class action lawsuit.

We are grateful to pro bono counsel at Troutman Pepper who worked for the last year to notify former students about the settlement and pro bono counsel at J.M. Smucker who reviewed submitted claims to determine eligibility for awards. Their work will ensure that former students receive some relief for the educational harm they experienced at Glen Mills.

Our ongoing class action suit includes education and abuse claims against the Glen Mills Schools, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, former leaders of the Department of Human Services, and individual defendants. 

ELC urged this advisory committee to waive fines and fees for families and students experiencing poverty and to establish clear standards to ensure that families struggling to make ends meet are not placed on payment plans extending over many months. Read ELC’s comments here.

In April, the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission issued its report and recommendations on Pennsylvania’s 2016 truancy law known as Act 138. The recommendations focused on providing a graduated response to non-attendance to reduce the number of cases referred to Magistrate District Judges and highlighted the need for ongoing training for MDJs and dedicated funding for truancy and mental health services. ELC’s testimony to the commission supporting these recommendations is discussed on pages 17-19 of the report.

To learn more about what MDJs can and cannot do, see our MDJ Compliance Checklist. 

ELC facilitated a know-your-rights presentation on special education to about 30 members of the Bhutanese community of Pittsburgh on April 4, hosted by the Global Switchboard. We shared information on early intervention, special education evaluations, language access for parents during the special education process, and more. We also shared a fact sheet on how to ask for a special education evaluation and a sample letter to ask for translation and interpretation services in the special education context. The presentation and materials were translated into Nepali. 

ELC is observing National Foster Care Month and highlighting the unmet needs of young people exiting foster care. Due to individual and systemic racial bias, Black and Hispanic/Latino children not only enter the foster care system at disproportionately higher rates but are more likely to exit the system unprepared to secure stable employment and lacking a permanent living situation: only 39% of Black children and 43% of Hispanic/Latino children find permanency compared to 56% of white children.

Pennsylvania’s Act 1 seeks to change these grim outcomes by providing support for K-12 students in foster care who experience education instability. Act 1 calls for a school-based point of contact, school fee waivers, individualized student graduation plans, and expanded pathways to graduation for youth in grades 9-12. Learn more about Act 1 from ELC’s fact sheets and tools here.  

May 17, 2024, marks the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, the case that transformed the landscape of American education and declared the "separate-but-equal" doctrine unconstitutional. Yet today it is well-documented that Pennsylvania schools are still among the most deeply segregated and inequitably funded.

The important legacy of the Brown decision urges us to continue our fight for racial justice, equitable funding, and affirming and supportive schools. 

Correcting the Pipeline: Conscious Approaches to the Vulnerable Populations: A free public conference addressing the school-to-prison pipeline will be presented by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission on May 23 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The keynote speaker is University of Pennsylvania professor Howard C. Stevenson. ELC staff attorney Paige Joki is a featured speaker. Register for the event here.

Check Out Our Job Postings!

ELC is hiring a policy director, with the position based in Philadelphia or Harrisburg.

ELC is seeking a director of our Western Pennsylvania office in Pittsburgh.

See our website for a description of internship opportunities at ELC.

Vague school rules at the root of millions of student suspensions by Sarah Butrymowicz, Fazil Khan, and Meredith Kolodner for The Hechinger Report.

PROOF POINTS: Four things a mountain of school discipline records taught us by Sarah Butrymowicz and Fazil Khan for The Hechinger Report.

A Classroom Management Training Helps New Teachers Send Fewer Kids to the Office by Sarah D. Sparks for Education Week.

Perkiomen Valley will prohibit library books with depictions of sexual conduct, including ‘Gender Queer’ by Maddie Hanna for The Philadelphia Inquirer.