The Center for Law and Education (CLE) strives to make the right of all students to quality education a reality and to enable communities to address their own education problems effectively, with an emphasis on assistance to low-income students.

CLE engages in federal and state legislative and administrative advocacy and targeted litigation to protect and expand students’ rights to high-quality education and make schools accountable to students and their families through enforcement and implementation of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, and the civil rights statutes — Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, national origin), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (disability), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act (multilingual learners/emergent bilinguals).

CLE provides backup support and assistance to attorneys in Massachusetts representing students from low-income families in education matters, which includes but is not limited to: reviewing student records in individual cases and assisting counsel in identifying potential legal claims; drafting demand letters, pleadings and research memoranda; providing legal counsel, ongoing case consultation; assisting in framing/developing a negotiation strategy; assisting in drafting state and federal administrative complaints; discussing strategies for litigation and appeal in specific cases; identifying expert witnesses; filing amicus briefs; updating legal memoranda and providing targeted legal and educational research related to ‘new’ matters of policy and education.

CLE also conducts trainings for a wide range of audiences, publishes legal manuals, tools, and other materials integrating educational research and practice with law and policy to foster key quality elements of schools, and works with educators as well as communities on collaborative school reform to implement key elements of educational policy and practice that foster the right to a high-quality education.

Listing up-to-date as of September 2024.