Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Stacie B. Miller, Communications Dir.
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
202-662-8317, office
202-445-6101, mobile
smiller@lawyerscommittee.org

Ronald E. Jackson, Executive Dir.
Citizens for Better Schools
205-478-7183
cfbsk12@aol.com

Leading Education Reform and Civil Rights Organizations Defend Alabama Parents’ Right to Transfer Children to Better Schools
Education Secretary Spellings Urged to Deny Alabama's Request for NCLB Waivers

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 2008 – Leading national education reform and civil rights organizations defend Alabama parents’ right to transfer children to better schools, urging United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to deny the state’s request for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers.  The signature domestic policy program of the Bush administration allows parents of students living in poverty to transfer to better performing schools in their school districts.

As the Bush administration draws to a close, the Alabama Department of Education has announced its intent to “delay NCLB Choice Transfer of students from poor performing schools.”  Alabama’s application comes on the heels of seven other states receiving clearance from the United States Department of Education to do the same. Alabama’s pilot proposal has drawn opposition from parents in Alabama and a Birmingham, Alabama-based school reform and parental support organization, Citizens for Better Schools (CBS), who recently filed written objections to Alabama’s proposal with Secretary Spellings.

The organizations claim that Alabama has not established, by empirical data, justifiable facts or law to warrant the NCLB waivers it requests.  “Alabama is the only sate in the nation I know of where the Secretary of Education had to order NCLB transfers to students trapped in Alabama’s underperforming schools,” said Citizens for Better Schools Executive Director Ronald E. Jackson.  “Now our state department of education wants the Secretary to reward them by further delaying the exit students from poorly performing schools in Alabama.” 

John Brittain, chief counsel of the Lawyers’ Committee, who assisted the CBS said, “Transfer is a right extended by Congress to the beneficiaries of Title I and should not be taken away or delayed by the state recipients. What Congress giveth only Congress should take away.”  The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Citizens’ Commission for Civil Rights provided legal assistance to the CBS in filing the comment letter to Secretary Spellings. 

In 2006, the United States Department of Education directed the Alabama State Department of Education to order the Birmingham Board of Education to allow several thousand eligible Birmingham middle school and special education students to transfer out of poor-performing neighborhood schools

that failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two successive years.  Alabama claims rising gas prices make it too expensive to allow student transfers, preferring to use gas money to hire private tutors for students.

Dianne Piché, executive director of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, said, “We are hopeful that the Secretary will not back away from the ‘bright line principle’ that every child should have equal educational opportunity and choice for a quality education in the United States. This is no time to back out the door on public school choice for poor children, who are without the same choice options afforded to children in affluent and middle class neighborhoods.” 

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of housing, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice.  For more information about the LCCRUL, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.

Media Note: The following spokespersons are available for comment:

John C. Brittain
Chief General Counsel
Lawyers Committee for Civil rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-662-8600
Fax: 202-783-0857
jbrittain@lawyerscommittee.org
www.lawyerscommittee.org

Dianne Piche, Esq.
Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights
2000 M St. NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-659-5565
Fax: 202-223-5302
dpiche@cccr.org
www.cccr.org

Ronald E. Jackson
Executive Director
Citizens for Better Schools
P. O. Box 190280
Birmingham, AL 35219
Tel: 205-478-7183
cfbsk12@aol.com
www.cfbsedu.org

Lon Washington, Esq.
Washington, Lloyd & Henderson
General Counsel
Citizens for Better Schools
Tel: 205-424-5460


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