ABOUT ELC

ELC is at the forefront of state-based efforts to improve school funding equity and secure essential resources for all students. Our strategies include litigation, policy development, capacity building, communications, data analysis and research.

Our work is based on the belief that all children deserve the opportunity to learn. Read More

Support Our Work

As a nonprofit organization, ELC relies on the generous contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations to support our work.

Read current and archived ELC news releases here.

Making the Grade 2020

How fair is school funding in your state? The annual Making the Grade report and supplementary materials explore the condition of school funding across the country.

COVID-19 and Students with Disabilities

ELC has expanded its Frequently Asked Questions document to assist parents in understanding their children's rights while school buildings remain fully or partially closed

Partnership for Equity & Education Rights (PEER)

PEER, convened by ELC, is a national network of lawyers and organizers fighting for education equity in their states.

Public Funds Public Schools

PFPS is a national campaign supported by ELC, SPLC and the SPLC Action Fund to fight private school vouchers through litigation, advocacy and research.

Abbott v. Burke

ELC represents over 300,000 low-income NJ schoolchildren in the Abbott v. Burke litigation. The Abbott decisions have been called the most important equal education rulings since Brown v. Board of Education.

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News Headlines

STATE DISINVESTMENT AFTER GREAT RECESSION COST SCHOOLS NEARLY $600 BILLION, LED TO “LOST DECADE” FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Two new ELC reports document unfair school funding in many states and troubling disinvestment in education in the decade following the Great Recession costing schools nearly $600 billion.

EDUCATION AND CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS URGE ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT TO HEAR SCHOOL FUNDING CASE

ELC and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Illinois Supreme Court to permit a lawsuit challenging inequitable school funding to proceed to trial.

SCHENECTADY SCHOOLCHILDREN GO TO COURT TO BLOCK 20% STATE AID CUT

Students ask judge to stop the State of NY from making a threatened 20% cut to prevent further educational devastation during a global pandemic.

NEW JERSEY’S SCHOOL COUNSELOR CRUNCH

In the 2018-19 school year, 244,111 NJ students did not have access to a school counselor, and at least 40% of all elementary schools had no school counselor on staff.

NJ REPORTS ALARMING INCREASE IN STUDENT SUSPENSIONS OVERALL AND AMONG BLACK STUDENTS

The NJDOE annual report on student discipline shows an alarming increase in student suspensions with continued disproportionate impact on Black students.

Education Law Center