Education Law Center

Newsletter | April 2014

Leigh Loman Joins ELC as Shaffer Fellow

The Education Law Center is pleased to welcome Leigh Loman to our Pittsburgh office as the 2014 Shaffer Public Interest Fellow.

Leigh returns to her hometown of Pittsburgh after graduating from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Leigh attended K-12 in the Woodland Hills School District before receiving her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh. During law school, Leigh interned with the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania. During her two-year fellowship, Leigh will contribute to the Education Law Center's growing school climate work by representing African-American students in school discipline proceedings and advocating for systemic reform to curb disproportionate suspensions and juvenile justice referrals.

Welcome Leigh!

ELC and JLC release new fact sheet on education decision makers

The Education Law Center and the Juvenile Law Center have released a fact sheet to explain important educational decision maker rules, including Pennsylvania's Juvenile Court Procedural Rules (Rules 1147 and 147) requiring judges to appoint an "Educational Decision Maker" for children who have no parent or guardian to make education decisions for them, or when a court concludes that appointing an EDM is in the best interest of a child.

View the Fact Sheet

Lawyers Urge City Council To Send Sales Tax Windfall to Philly's Schools

Attorneys from ELC, PILCOP and the private bar stand in support as attorney Matt Olesh speaks on the importance of school funding. Photo by Mike DeNardo.

Mike DeNardo, KYW - April 24, 2014

A group of Philadelphia attorneys is taking their case for school funding not to a judge, but to City Council.

The two dozen attorneys are urging councilmembers to extend the city sales tax hike to provide $120 million for the cash-starved Philadelphia School District.

Council president Darrell Clarke wants to split the revenue between the schools and the city pension system. The school district, however, is banking on that $120 million, and Matt Olesh - an attorney with the firm of Fox Rothschild and the parent of a three-year-old - says the schools should take precedence.

"Pensions are certainly important," Olesh said today. "And I think that there's still time to address that. The school crisis and the funding crisis for the district is happening right now."

Read the full story

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