Children’s Rights & Education

Children’s Task Force

Established in 2003, the Children’s Task Force examines issues relating to children in Colorado to determine if there are legal problems that would benefit from advocacy of Colorado Lawyers Committee volunteers. In past years, task force volunteers worked to ensure that the State provides behavioral therapy services to children with autism through Medicaid as required by federal law. During 2021 the Task Force advocated for increased availability of appropriate placements and mental health services for children in foster care. More recently, the efforts of the Task Force have been focused on whether (1) juvenile diversion policies are applied evenly to everyone, regardless of race or socio-economic status and (2) counties are providing children in foster care with the education services required by the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). The Task Force is working to collect and analyze data to determine if there are systemic issues where CLC advocacy could make a difference.

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Education Task Force - School Discipline Subcommittee

This newly created Subcommittee is examining the delicate balance between student rights and public safety concerns of schools. The Subcommittee has numerous anecdotal stories: of students being expelled for non-violent, off-campus conduct (where criminal charges were dropped), of school hearings where no evidence (or only hearsay) was offered to support a student’s subsequent expulsion, and of hearings without an impartial decisionmaker. These reports suggest greater limitations may be needed on the discretion permitted to schools, including due process safeguards, to assure that students are not subject to unfair disciplinary action that will have long term impact on their future.

Education Task Force: Charter Schools Subcommittee

Formed in 2022, this Subcommittee is exploring challenges faced by charter schools in providing necessary services to special needs children and recent legislation which will impact these services.

Education Task Force

The Lawyers Committee has a long history of advocating on educational issues. Much of the Task Force’s work during the last six years has focused on litigation, including Dwyer v. Colorado, which alleged that the State’s $1 billion per year cuts to school funding since 2010 are in violation of Amendment 23 to the Colorado Constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the cuts in 2014. A few years ago, the Task Force began exploring advocacy for children through four subcommittees: Special Education, School Discipline, Charter Schools, and School Finance.

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Education Task Force - Special Education subcommittee

Since 2019, the Special Education Subcommittee has been examining the following issues: implementation of the recent US Supreme Court decision in a Douglas County case (which requires the state to offer an “individualized education program” reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress that is appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances); and the impact of the underfunding of special education on both the identification of students needing services and the inability of districts to provide necessary services.

Education Task Force: School Finance Subcommittee

The Colorado Lawyers Committee has a long history of advocacy for thorough and uniform educational funding. Yet, significant problems persist both in funding of student services and capital construction. For several years, this Subcommittee has been considering possible solutions to the severe and inequitable underfunding of Colorado’s schools. This group of volunteers is researching approaches that have been successful in other states and exploring whether legal advocacy can remedy the problems in Colorado’s school funding

children’s rights & education HISTORICAL highlights

**CHILDREN’S RIGHTS**
**2017**
Two new subcommittees of the Children’s Task Force explore issues related to foster care and immigration.
**2003**
The Children’s Task Force is created to advocate on issues impacting children, including the availability of preschool in Colorado for disadvantaged children, immigration, and access to Medicaid.
**1994**
The Foster Care Task Force negotiates an agreement for a 39% increase in child welfare case workers, millions of dollars for substance abuse and mental health treatment, and improved accountability.
**1991**
The Children’s Legislative Task Force successfully advocates for the passage of several new Colorado laws: a childhood immunization bill, a child support enforcement statute, and a bill that requires Colorado hospitals to ask unwed fathers to acknowledge their parenthood at the time of their child’s birth.
**EDUCATION**
**2017**
The Education Task Force creates four new subcommittees: Anti-Bullying, Special Education, School Discipline and DPS Resegregation.
**2014**
*Dwyer v. State of Colorado* challenges the State’s funding of K-12 schools, alleging that the State’s $1 billion per year cuts to school funding since 2010 were a violation of Amendment 23 to the Colorado Constitution.
**2014**
A new School Discipline Task Force helps pass HB15-1273 to compile data on over-criminalization of student conduct.
**2014**
CLC partners with Donnell-Kay Foundation to assess legal obstacles to the Foundation’s ReSchool Colorado project, an effort to create an entirely new state public education system.
**2006**
In a five-week trial in August 2011 (Lobato v. State of Colorado), volunteers argue that Colorado’s school finance system does not meet the ‘thorough and uniform’ requirement of the State constitution. More than 70 volunteers from 12 law firms participate in the case.
**2001**
*Haley v. Colorado Department of Education* challenges Colorado’s funding for special education students.
**1997**
*Giardino v. Colorado,* filed on behalf of 23,000 students in six Colorado school districts with unsafe, deteriorating school buildings, challenges the State’s refusal to fund safe educational facilities. After several days of trial, a settlement provides $190 million legislative funding to improve deteriorating public school facilities.
**1995**
The School Discipline Task Force addresses concerns about the unequal enforcement of the Colorado School Discipline Act and proposes legislation, enacted in 1996, that amends the Act and ensures due process for all students facing school discipline.
**1994**
CLC sues *(Booth v. Board of Education)* to force Denver Public Schools to comply with a State Board of Education’s decision granting charter status to Thurgood Marshall Charter Middle School.
**1994**
The Proprietary Schools Task Force is formed to focus on legislative reform and litigation to protect students at proprietary schools.
**1993**
The Rural Education Task Force assists Hispanic students in the Fort Morgan school district to address issues arising out of perceived discrimination against Hispanics in the district and establish a grievance procedure to resolve issues of ethnic and racial discrimination. Volunteers also work on behalf of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes to oppose legislation that would reduce state funds to their schools.
**1988**
The Education Task Force is established to improve educational opportunities and initially focuses its efforts on the primarily Latino and Native American populations in the San Luis Valley and the Four Corners area.
**1986**
Volunteers challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Public School Finance Act in *Hafer v. Colorado State Board of Education.* The case is dismissed when sweeping school finance reforms are enacted by the Colorado legislature.
**1985**
In Duran v. Center Consolidated School District, CLC negotiates a landmark settlement in a suit against the Center School District for its failure to maintain a bilingual program for its predominantly Spanish-speaking student body.
**1983**
CLC serves as co-counsel for intervenors in *Keyes v. School District No. 1,* to protect the rights of Denver Public School students with limited English proficiency. The court rules the district’s bilingual education program violates the Federal Equal Educational Opportunity Act.
**1978**
Lujan v. State Board of Education, filed on behalf of children in low-wealth school districts, seeks a declaration that the Colorado School Finance Act is unconstitutional because it allocates state funds to public schools based on the property wealth of each district.