Initiatives
In addition to our core advocacy work, ELC receives funding to support several specific initiatives:
Education Justice
Education Justice is a project of ELC designed to offer support services to a network of litigators and other education advocates across the country in an effort to secure the opportunity to learn and equity in funding and learning resources for all children, including low-income and minority children, children learning English, and children with disabilities.
New Jersey Education Organizing Collaborative
ELC is a founding member of the New Jersey Education Organizing Collaborative (NJEOC) together with the Abbott Leadership Institute, Paterson Education Fund, and the Statewide Education Organizing Committee. The goal of NJEOC is to encourage education organizing in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson, and to ensure that parents and students in these cities have a strong voice in shaping education policies on the local and statewide level. For more information about NJEOC, please contact Sharon Krengel, ELC Policy & Outreach Coordinator.
New Jersey Special Education Practitioners
ELC is the founder and leading member of the New Jersey Special Education Practitioners (NJSEP) coalition, an association of over 100 attorneys and other advocates in private law firms and public interest advocacy organizations who represent students with disabilities in special education matters. NJSEP hosts a listserv and meets regularly to discuss issues of importance to the practice of special education law and frequently hosts speakers and training sessions of interest to members. A significant component of the work involves advocacy on key special education matters, such as the recent successful effort to secure legislation to place the "burden of proof" in special education administrative hearings on school districts. Advocates interested in joining NJSEP should contact Scott Pegram at the law firm of White & Case.
Our Children/Our Schools
Our Children/Our Schools (OC/OS) is a network of New Jersey education, children’s and civil rights advocates and organizations. The purpose of OC/OS is to serve as a vehicle for improved and enhanced education advocacy in support of New Jersey’s public school children. ELC serves as an information source for participant groups and as a facilitator of communications, capacity building and advocacy campaigns. ELC also facilitates the spread of information beyond OC/OS to decision-makers, non-member organizations and advocates, and the press.
School Finance Litigators' Forum
The School Finance Litigators' Forum is an online forum for plaintiffs’ attorneys, experts and advocates to share information and documents relating to school finance litigation, including prekindergarten claims, and respond to posted queries.
Secondary Reform Project
The Secondary Reform Project was established by ELC to monitor and support implementation of effective middle and high school reform in New Jersey’s urban districts and to engage a broad group of stakeholders, policymakers and the public in efforts to reduce dropout rates, increase graduation and college participation rates and narrow gaps in educational achievement and opportunity. For more information, please contact Stan Karp, ELC Director of Secondary Reform Initiatives.