For over 55 years, the Center for Law and Education (CLE) has provided advice, expertise, and support to educators, parents, students, lawyers, and advocates focused on ensuring equal access for all students to quality K-12 public education.
1969
CLE Opens
CLE opens its doors as the Harvard Center for Law and Education, an interdisciplinary research institute established by Harvard and the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, which had been created by Lyndon B. Johnson. CLE’s mission is “to protect and advance the legal interests of the poor through research and action on the legal implications of educational policies, particularly those affecting equality of educational opportunity.”
1970
First Issue of Inequality in Education Published
CLE publishes the first full year of Inequality in Education, coveted by legal services, attorneys, policymakers, advocates, and academics for its groundbreaking examination of such critical and timely concerns as Title I, parent involvement, tracking, and race and sex discrimination.
1971
CLE Drafts and Successfully Advocates for the Massachusetts Transitional Bilingual Education Act
CLE drafts, and successfully advocates for, the Massachusetts Transitional Bilingual Education Act, which requires school systems to provide adequate bilingual education when twenty or more students speak a particular language. This Act becomes a model for several other states.
1974
CLE Serves as Co-counsel in Boston School Desegregation Case
CLE serves as co-counsel in the landmark Boston school desegregation case, Morgan v. Hennigan. A district court rules that Boston school officials had engaged in racial discrimination in assigning students and hiring teachers and administrators and begins the process of providing remedies. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
1980
CLE Opens Office in D.C.
CLE opens an office and establishes a major presence in Washington D.C. Over the years, CLE staff plays a large role in the development of virtually every major piece of education legislation and regulation affecting children. CLE’s impact is clearly seen on Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, civil rights remedies for limited-English proficient children, bilingual education, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, and the Vocational Education Act, among many others. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
1987
CLE Advocates for the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act
CLE, along with other groups, surveys 110 homeless shelters throughout the country on the denial of education to homeless children. CLE produces a wide range of materials on the right to education for the homeless and advocates strongly for the passage of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.
1988
CLE Writes Brief for Honig v Doe Case
CLE writes a critical amicus brief for Honig v Doe. The Supreme Court rules that school officials cannot unilaterally remove a student with disabilities from school for any reason and must seek parental consent on a court order. Photo courtesy of Brittanica.
1992
CLE Implements the Vocational Opportunity for Community and Educational Development Project
CLE’s Vocational Opportunity for Community and Educational Development (VOCED) Project forms the Hands and Mind Collaborative with its lead site– Cambridge Rindge School of Technical Arts– as a teacher-based center on the new vision of vocational curriculum and instruction, taking down the walls between academic and vocational wings of the school. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
1994
CLE Serves on Committee to Help Rewrite Title I
CLE serves on the steering committee of the National Commission on Chapter I reform, which results in a comprehensive, total rewrite of Title I around the core principle that learning in schools with many low-income children should no longer be aimed at minimal gains through low-level remedial instruction. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
2003
CLE Testifies Before the U.S. State Committee on Education, Labor, and Pensions
CLE is invited as Senator Ted Kennedy’s witness and testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in opposition to proposed legislation through the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that would result in the criminalization of students’ behavior and these particular students being channeled into alternative schools identified as part of the school-to-prison pipeline.
2005
CLE Publishes the Original Educational Quality Bill of Rights (EQBR)
CLE publishes the original version of its Educational Quality Bill of Rights (EQBR), a tool developed to use collaboratively with parents and educators at school sites to promote effective school. level change. The EQBR links law, policy, and research-based practices, empowering policy makers to articulate core elements of quality education that every child should receive.
2009
CLE Secures Victory in LB v. O’Connell Case
In LB v. O’Connell, CLE and private counsel secure an unprecedented victory in federal court. The case establishes the precedent that a “zero tolerance” policy violates not only procedural but substantive due process when it results in exclusionary punishment grossly disproportionate to the offense. Photo courtesy of MassLive.
2009
CLE Begins a 4-Year Partnership with the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Racial Justice
CLE begins a 4-year collaborative pro bono partnership with the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School and the Boston law firm Choate, Hall, & Stewart. CLE provides materials, training and legal back-up assistance (including co-counseling) to about 25 associates and a couple of partners who successfully represented students at school suspension and expulsion hearings, and, in limited instances, in court.
2015
CLE Helps Meet the Needs of Racial and Language Minority Students through MLAC Funding
CLE uses its funding as the recipient of MLAC’s Racial Justice Fellowship to increase its capacity to help meet the needs of racial and language minority students enrolled in the service area for South Coastal County Legal Services. CLE’s Racial Justice Fellow works closely with program staff to help build a practice that protects students’ rights to remain in school by representing them at school-based, administrative hearings and using systemic civil rights complaints to eliminate institutional barriers. Photo courtesy of the Equal Justice Coalition.
2018
CLE Forces BPS to Recognize Sickle Cell Disease as a Disability
After CLE and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute files a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on behalf of BPS parents and students, Boston Public Schools agree to recognize sickle cell disease as a disability that interferes with a student’s education, and to implement policy changes to ensure that students with SCD receive the quality education they have long been denied due to health problems. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Schools.
2018
CLE Files Lawsuit Against BPS due to BPS’s Sharing of Information with ICE
CLE, in conjunction with a coalition of students’ rights groups, files a lawsuit against Boston Public Schools to obtain public records that are being improperly held regarding BPS’s disturbing practice of sharing information with federal immigration officials, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Photo courtesy of CBS News.
2020
CLE Files Brief in NAACP et al v. De Vos et al
CLE files an amicus brief in NAACP et al v. De Vos et al. CLE’s brief provides a detailed analysis of the faulty reasoning behind the Department’s determination that a count of all students was an appropriate measure for determining equitable services for students and teachers in private schools. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rules in favor of the NAACP, leading to the overturning of the U.S. Department of Education’s regulation that diverted COVID-19 relief funds from public to private schools. Photo courtesy of AP.
2023
CLE Files a Complaint for Discrimination in Admission Policies in Massachusetts CTE Programs
CLE and Lawyers for Civil Rights file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for discrimination in the admissions policies used across Massachusetts to admit or reject students applying to career vocational technical education high schools and programs.
2023
CLE Named 2023 National Charity of the Year
CLE is named the 2023 National Charity of the Year by the National Association of Legal Assistants, the nation’s leading professional association for paralegals. NALA selected CLE as the year’s honoree given its focus on helping schools articulate what they need to ensure that all children receive a high-quality education.
