Civil and Human Rights Coalition Responds to Today’s Signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act

WASHINGTON – Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in advance of President Obama’s signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the successor law to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The Leadership Conference led of a coalition of civil rights and education groups that worked to ensure that the ESSA maintained its integrity as a civil rights law: 

“The signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act is a call to action for every parent, community member, and civil rights organization across the country to demand accountability from their state legislators, governors, school boards, and superintendents. 

This law requires and expects that all communities and families being served by schools are at the table as plans are devised and executed to improve educational outcomes for students.  For far too long, decisionmakers have paid lip service to students who are low-income, of color, have a disability, or are learning English as a second language. That era must end with this law. 

We applaud the bipartisan process that went in crafting this law. We will work in Washington and around the country to ensure that implementation of this law drives toward educational equity, as it was originally intended, and includes diverse communities throughout the process.”

Nancy Zirkin is executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 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 and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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