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What we DO

Education Justice

A high-quality public education is a fundamental civil right for all children.

More than 60 years ago, the Court in Brown v. Board of Education wrote: “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local government” because “it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.” Yet, the quality of an education that District of Columbia students receive still depends far too much on the neighborhood in which they live, the income of their family, the color of their skin, the language they speak at home, and whether they have a disability.

Our Education Justice team strives to ensure that all students in the District of Columbia have access to high-quality public schools that are accountable to the communities they serve. We fight for students who have been denied access to their education or excluded from educational opportunities. We combat discrimination against students of color and students with disabilities.

We do this through three core strategies: bringing legal cases, advocating for laws and regulations that create educational opportunity, and partnering with District schools to provide support and academic enrichment.
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Learn more about joining the fight for education rights by contacting us at [email protected].

Know Your Rights

View our resources below for information regarding available transition services for students with disabilities in DC.

Check out this online resource!

Case Study

On August 6, 2026, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia found that the Shenandoah County School Board discriminated against Black students by reinstating the names of Confederate generals at Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School. The Court found that the School Board’s decision violated the Fourteenth Amendment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, and ordered the School Board to remove the names “Stonewall Jackson” and “Ashby-Lee” and adopt new, non-discriminatory school names.

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed in June 2024 by the NAACP Virginia State Conference and six Shenandoah County students, represented by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Covington & Burling LLP, and Holland & Knight LLP. The students and the NAACP challenged the School Board’s decision to reinstate the Confederate names, which had been removed in 2020 after the Board recognized their discriminatory impact on Black students and their families. After winning their First Amendment claim at summary judgment in September 2025, the plaintiffs proceeded to trial on their Fourteenth Amendment, Title VI, and Equal Educational Opportunities Act claims.

In its decision, the Court found that the reinstatement of the Confederate school names had a disproportionate impact on Black students, who testified that the names made them feel unwelcome, inferior to their White peers, and less valued at school. The Court’s decision represents a decisive victory for the students and their community and reaffirms that every student has the right to an education free from intentional racial discrimination.

Read more here.

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“Dr. King said, ‘the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.’ But only when people pull it toward justice. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee is doing the pulling, and our city and the nation are better for it.”
Eric Holder, former Attorney General of the United States

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