The Education & Law Project seeks to improve and reform public education from pre-K to 12th grade through policy research, community outreach, and litigation. We are committed to ensuring students of color, students with disabilities, students from families with low incomes, and students that are otherwise disadvantaged have access to high-quality education.
OUR GOALS
- Secure the funding public schools need in order to provide a high-quality education to every child.
- Create an inclusive public school system that allows all children to thrive, regardless of that child’s zip code or family background.
- Ensure parents have the information and access they need so they can be involved in their children’s educations.
- Advocate for integrated schools that provide expanded opportunities and enhanced educational outcomes for all students.
LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY
- School Funding
- Responsible Charter School Policies
- Suspension and Expulsion Policies
- Integrated Schools
COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
School Diversity: We work with allies to fight efforts to resegregate public schools. For example, we participated with some of our partners in the filing of a Title VI Complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education to end harmful resegregation of schools after the loss of Wake County’s nationally recognized diversity policy for school assignment.
Legal Representation to End Systemic Problems: We provide legal assistance to families that encounter barriers to accessing public schools or getting necessary supports for their students. This may include difficulty registering a student for school, refusal by a school to create or implement a Personal Education Plan, and other situations that put students at risk for failing. We also help families overcome language barriers at school, deal with possibly discriminatory charter-school admissions processes, and fight the discriminatory application of school discipline rules.
Co-Anchor of the Every Child NC Coalition: The NC Justice Center is a founding partner of the Every Child NC coalition and currently serves as its co-Anchor organization, along with Education Justice Alliance. In this role, we provide staff support and are responsible for fundraising, including our Partner Support Funding program, which enables community advocates leading the fight for education resource equity to realize initiatives to advance our mission and to advocate directly for their communities at the NC General Assembly.
Justice Circle