The weather cooperated at our indoor-outdoor venue, our supporters enjoyed the opportunity to come together in person, and the event set a record for ELC – bringing in more than $450,000 in funds vital for implementing our ambitious workplan for the coming year.

For the occasion, our centerpieces featured books that have been recent targets of the book bans that extremist groups have been pushing in school districts in Pennsylvania and around the nation. The books, purchased from Harriet’s Bookshop in Philadelphia, were a reminder of work that ELC and its allies must continue — to protect students’ rights against these attacks, which are a backlash against efforts to make our schools more inclusive and supportive of Black, Brown, and LGBTQ students. We are donating these “banned books” to two Philadelphia public schools.

Thanks to everyone who joined us Thursday, supports our work, or collaborates with us to ensure all children in Pennsylvania have access to quality public education! And if you didn’t have a chance to support ELC last week, feel free to do so here!

Honoree Gretchen Santamour is flanked by executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr and board president Al Suh.

We continue to patiently but eagerly await a decision from Commonwealth Court in our school funding lawsuit. We remain hopeful because of the powerful case our team presented at trial and in post-trial legal arguments, concluding with oral argument in Harrisburg on July 26. The case is now in the hands of the judge. There is no set timetable for a decision in the case, but it is no surprise that a decision in a case of this magnitude and complexity would take months. Whatever the outcome, we expect the court’s ruling to be appealed to the state Supreme Court and heard in 2023.

Our school funding lawsuit was a major focus of ELC’s September 29 celebration. In her remarks honoring O’Melveny, ELC legal director Maura McInerney explained, “This is our most important case because lack of adequate and equitable school funding is the root cause of so many of the issues we see every day.”

Summarizing key revelations from the trial, she added, “Over 48 days, 41 witnesses, 1100 admitted exhibits, and more than 15,000 pages of testimony … we heard things we wouldn’t otherwise hear and saw things we wouldn’t otherwise see.” Maura expressed hope for a positive outcome “where the future of Pennsylvania’s schoolchildren will no longer be predetermined by local wealth but by each child’s potential and desire and vision.”

This month, Education Law Center submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rules on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. ELC’s concerns focus on the impact of the proposed amended regulations on students in Pennsylvania’s publicly funded preK-12 schools, particularly Black girls, who are more likely to be subject to sexual harassment and to be stereotyped and disciplined for defending themselves against such harassment in school.

While we celebrate the progress that has been made in the 50 years since Title IX was passed, sex-based harassment and discrimination remains a very significant problem in preK-12 schools in Pennsylvania and across the country: Nearly half of K-12 students report experiencing sexual harassment at school, and 87% of those students said that the harassment had a negative effect on them.

ELC and ACLU Pennsylvania co-authored an op-ed highlighting a dangerous trend among certain school boards to ban and remove inappropriate books, limit curriculum, and preclude advocacy. These policies target books that affirm students who are Black and Brown and students who identify as LBGTQ; they trample on core legal rights and make it harder for teachers to teach and students to learn.

ELC is assisting parents in the Pennridge School District, where the board gave final approval to a restrictive book selection policy and a school-based “Don’t Say Gay policy” that will prevent teachers from even speaking to students who come to them for advice and support on issues related to gender identity or expression. We joined the ACLU in a letter to the board to correct misinformation used to promote a total ban on Pride flags in this district and additional bans in other Pennsylvania school districts. ELC will monitor the situation and support parents and students as these policies are implemented. Unfortunately, more troubling policies and votes are anticipated in Pennridge.

Two Pennsylvania House members introduced book ban and “Don’t Say Gay” legislation in September. It is very unlikely that these bills, or the Senate counterparts, will receive a vote this fall, but this action continues the cynical attempt by elected officials to influence the debate ahead of important state and federal elections by attacking teachers and demonizing students. Gov. Tom Wolf reiterated his commitment to veto if one of these bills reaches his desk. 

ELC legal director Maura McInerney and staff attorney Paige Joki presented at three sessions during the September 2022 Paving the Way to Educational Success Conference, a statewide convening for Pennsylvania educators and other professionals on supporting students experiencing homelessness or in foster care. Maura and Paige led two workshop sessions focused on implementing the state’s new Act 1 law, which requires school entities to provide additional supports and protections for youth experiencing educational instability due to homelessness or involvement in the foster care or juvenile justice systems.

A third workshop focused on reducing school discipline and exclusionary measures, highlighting the need for specific reforms to end subjective practices that harshly impact Black and Brown students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ students, and students at the intersections of these identities.

ELC staff from the Pittsburgh office joined our partners at Gwen’s Girls and the Black Girls Equity Alliance for their 7th Annual Equity Summit — She Matters: Protecting and Uplifting the Well-Being of Black Girls. The featured keynote speaker was Monique Morris, author of Cultivating Joyful Learning Spaces for Black Girls: Insights into Interrupting School Pushout, who called for educational equity for Black girls. We attended several workshops, including “Care, Not Control: Ending Youth Incarceration in Pennsylvania” — led by young people at the Juvenile Law Center with the Care, Not Control coalition. Their presentation focused on the use of art and advocacy as a vehicle to end youth incarceration in the state of PA. Check out their new project here — Care, not Control —The Album.

Our staff is growing! We are excited to welcome two new additions to our team: Ariella Gregson and Kayla Edwards-Scott.

In addition, we are thrilled to announce that Ashli Giles-Perkins (she/they), who has spent the past two years with us as an Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellow in our Philadelphia office, is transitioning into the role of staff attorney. Ashli’s work centers on addressing the significant educational injustices for youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems who enter, reside in, and leave residential facilities. Ashli provides representation of students and families, trainings for families and communities, and significant outreach to stakeholders to ensure oversight, accountability, and access to quality education for system-involved youth. Ashli also is playing a leadership role as ELC responds to the growing number of racist, homophobic, and transphobic policies being proposed by school boards across the commonwealth.

Ariella Gregson (she/her) is the new development specialist for the Education Law Center in Philadelphia. She is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing ELC’s comprehensive fundraising program, including special events, annual fund, major gifts, planned giving, donor relations, and strategic communications.

Kayla Edwards-Scott (she/her) joined us in August as the new program associate in the Pittsburgh office. She is responsible for working with and supporting families who reach out to ELC’s intake Helpline as well as supporting ELC’s external communications, including the website, newsletter, reports, and social media.

ELC is seeking a director of our Western Pennsylvania office in Pittsburgh, who will report to the executive director in Philadelphia. The candidate should have a demonstrated commitment to public interest law, civil rights, racial justice, and advancing the rights of underserved populations. The Pittsburgh director provides leadership and direction to the Pittsburgh office, including overseeing direct service to underserved students, participating in local and statewide policy advocacy and litigation, building and strengthening community partnerships, and engaging with funders and board members.

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

These are the most commonly banned books in U.S. schools — and in Pennsylvania by Felicia Gans Sobey, Maddie Hanna, and Oona Goodin-Smith for the Philadelphia Inquirer

A Philly teacher examines school funding and public spaces, through art by Kristen A. Graham for the Philadelphia Inquirer

West Philadelphia parents facing eviction worry about children changing schools by Johann Calhoun for Chalkbeat Philadelphia

The name, the records, the future — a candid reflection from a trans Pittsburgh teen by Andrea Shockling for Public Source.