PHILADELPHIA, PA — As Pennsylvania students return to classrooms for the 2026–27 school year, the Education Law Center-PA (ELC-PA) has released its 2026-27 Back to School Guide for Pennsylvania Students, Families and Advocates featuring 39 new and updated resources—approximately 100 in total—to help communities understand and protect students’ education rights.

The annual guide brings together accessible fact sheets, analyses and self-advocacy tools covering some of the most pressing issues facing students and families in Pennsylvania public schools. This year, ELC-PA published 12 new and 27 updated resources to reflect significant changes in federal and state laws and regulations.

“Families should not need to be lawyers to understand their children’s rights at school,” said Deborah Gordon Klehr, ELC-PA’s executive director. “Our Back to School Guide makes complex and rapidly changing laws and policies easier to understand. It gives families, students, and child-serving professionals practical tools they can use to advocate for children and ensure they receive the education and supports to which they are entitled.”

New and updated resources in the 2026-27 guide address issues including:

• Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings affecting the rights of LGBTQ+ students;
• New resources to help families of students with disabilities navigate IEP meetings and secure required services and supports;
• Students’ Rights & K-12 Schools’ Obligations Under Title IX;
• New requirements for students attending virtual and cyber charter schools; and
• Pennsylvania’s new CROWN Act protections against racial discrimination based on natural hair textures, protective hairstyles, and head coverings.

The 2026 guide also includes free, fillable self-advocacy tools that families and education decision-makers can use to make requests to schools, document concerns, and file administrative complaints when students’ rights are not being upheld.

ELC-PA develops and updates its Back to School Guide each year as part of its work to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education. The organization focuses particularly on students who have historically been underserved and works to challenge policies and practices that perpetuate racial inequity and other systemic barriers to educational opportunity.

Explore the 2026 Back to School Guide: https://www.elc-pa.org/2026-27-back-to-school-guide-for-students-and-families/