American Civil Liberties Union

Rights of the Poor:
Poor people are one of the least powerful groups in the U.S. and their civil liberties are therefore always in a precarious state. The ACLU has defended the rights of the poor against government arbitrariness and abuse through litigation, lobbying and public education.


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Rights of the Poor : Education : Press Releases view all

State To Provide Homeless Children With Equal Access To Public Education (08/12/2008)
HONOLULU – U.S. District Court Chief Judge Helen Gillmor today approved a settlement agreement in a case brought by a statewide class of homeless children and their parents against the Hawaii Department of Education ("DOE") and Board of Education ("Board"). The settlement requires the State to provide homeless children with equal access to public education and remove barriers to their educational success.

Homeless Children Denied Equal Access to Education (10/02/2007)
HONOLULU - Calling the State of Hawaii's treatment of homeless children a travesty, civil rights groups and attorneys filed a class action lawsuit today challenging the State's failure to provide homeless children with equal access to public education. The lawsuit - which names three homeless parents and their children - charges State officials with ignoring their legal obligations to provide homeless children with equal access to a free and appropriate public education in violation of the McKinney-Vento Act. The lawsuit also charges State officials with violating constitutional requirements to provide equal access to public education without regard to the status of homelessness.

NYCLU Urges Spitzer to Implement School-Based Reform, End School Segregation (01/04/2007)
NEW YORK - After Governor Eliot Spitzer pledged yesterday to spend billions more dollars on education for New York State children, the New York Civil Liberties Union today urged the new governor to focus not only on funding but also on implementing school-based reform. Statewide school-based reform will tailor remedial measures to failing schools' specific deficiencies, and decrease persistent racial inequality in the education system, said the NYCLU.

School Fees Ruled Unconstitutional After ACLU of Indiana Challenge (03/30/2006)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Supreme Court today ruled in favor of parents represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in a state constitutional challenge to mandatory student fees charged by Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation for all K-12 students.

ACLU Fights to Keep Three Students from New Orleans in Mississippi Public School (01/23/2006)
JACKSON, MS -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi today announced that it will represent three displaced students from New Orleans at a hearing before members of the Jackson Public Schools disciplinary committee. The ACLU charged that school officials are discriminating against the students by subjecting them to harsher disciplinary action than students who live in Jackson.

Rights of the Poor : Education : Legislative Documents

Coalition Letter to the House Education and the Workforce Committee Regarding the Delay or Denial of Federal Financial Aid on the Basis of Any Drug Offense (05/03/2002)

Rights of the Poor : Education : Resources

Injustice 101: Higher Education Act Denies Financial Aid to Students with Drug Convictions (06/14/2002)
The ACLU is bringing a legal challenge to the "Aid Elimination Provision" of the Higher Education Act. Please contact the ACLU if you have been denied financial aid due to a drug conviction and want to help challenge this unjust law.

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