Parents, Teachers, and Civil Rights Advocates from Across the Country Come to Washington to Improve Senate Education Bill

WASHINGTON –– Tomorrow, parents and teachers will join education and civil rights advocates from across the country in Washington, D.C. to urge their senators to improve the proposed reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Organized by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, lobby day participants include civil rights and disability advocates, teachers, and parents who want to improve the Senate ESEA reauthorization proposal voted out of committee earlier this month. The current proposal is inadequate for helping the disadvantaged students these advocates represent.  Click here to learn more about the Senate ESEA proposal.

Below are quotes from lobby day participants and organizers:

Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

“ESEA has been our nation’s greatest driver of educational equity for the past 50 years. For the communities these grassroots leaders represent—students of color, students with disabilities, English-language learners, and low-income students—a strong ESEA is vital to ensuring that states and school districts are living up to their obligation to provide a quality education to all on an equal basis—not just for the most privileged or wealthy.”

Sue Brennan, a high school teacher from Indianapolis, Indiana

“As someone who works to get students that have been traditionally underserved by our educational system ready for college and the real world, I have seen the impact that ESEA has had in my classroom. My students rely on me to give them a quality education and I rely on strong federal and state guidelines through a strong ESEA to know that I am getting them ready no matter where in the world they go.”

Carol Westlake, executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition

“Access to a quality public education should not depend on where you happen to live, or the challenges you live with. For 50 years the ESEA has been in place to promote fair and equal access to education for ALL children. I am here in D.C. because my senator, Lamar Alexander plays a critical role in protecting students with disabilities. We need a strong reauthorization that sets high expectations and promotes meaningful state accountability for educating students with disabilities.”

Micah Miner, an alternative education teacher from Chicago, Illinois

“We cannot give up on the principle that our nation can educate all of our children. The students I teach don’t always feel connected, at least in a positive way, to their government. By my coming to D.C. and speaking up for ESEA, I am giving voice to their needs and showing them that they actually count in this big country of ours.”

To talk with participants in the April 23 lobby day, please contact Scott Simpson at (202) 466-2061 or [email protected]

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference, visit www.civilrights.org

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