Education Law Commons^™

Can't Really Teach: Crt Bans Impose Upon Teachers' First Amendment Pedagogical Rights, Mary L. Krebs

Vanderbilt Law Review

The jurisprudence governing K-12 teachers’ speech protection has been a convoluted hodgepodge of caselaw since the 1960s when the Supreme Court established that teachers retain at least some First Amendment protection as public educators. Now, as new so-called Critical Race Theory bans prohibit an array of hot button topics in the classroom, K-12 teachers must either preemptively censor themselves or risk running afoul of these vague bans with indeterminate legal protection. This Note proposes an elucidation of K-12 teachers’ free speech rights via a two-part test to assess the reasonability of instructional speech. Rather than analogizing K-12 teacher speech to …

Sector Agnosticism And The Coming Transformation Of Education Law, Nicole S. Garnett

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over the past two decades, the landscape of elementary and secondary education in the United States has shifted dramatically, due to the emergence and expansion of privately provided, but publicly funded, schooling options (including both charter schools and private school choice devices like vouchers, tax credits, and educational savings accounts). This transformation in the delivery of K12 education is the result of a confluence of factors-discussed in detail below-that increasingly lead education reformers to support efforts to increase the number of high quality schools serving disadvantaged students across all three educational sectors, instead of focusing exclusively on reforming urban public …

Federalizing Education By Waiver?, Derek W. Black

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the fall of 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Education told states he would use his statutory power to waive violations of the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLB'), but only on the condition that they adopt his new education policies- policies that had already failed to move forward in Congress. States had no choice but to agree because eighty percent of their schools were faced with serious statutory sanctions. As a result, the Secretary was able to unilaterally dictate core education policies for the nation's public schools. For the first time, the content of school curriculum and the means …

Bringing It All Back Home: Establishing A Coherent Constitutional Framework For The Re-Regulation Of Homeschooling, Timothy B. Waddell

Vanderbilt Law Review

Bobby and Esther Riddle, the Supreme Court of West Virginia conceded, "did an excellent job" teaching their children, Jill and Tim- possibly better than the public schools could do."' Like many fundamentalist parents, the Riddles believed the Bible required them personally to teach their children, protect them from heresy and worldly influence, and resist government intrusions that could imperil their eternal salvation. Moreover, they believed they had constitutional rights to do so. Jill and Tim Riddle studied the same subjects as public schoolchildren, but their studies were interwoven with religious lessons based upon their parents' idiosyncratic view of Christian doctrine. …

School Funding Litigation: Who's Winning The War?, John Dayton, Anne Dupre

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much is being made this year in education law circles and elsewhere about the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.' The Brown decision has certainly left an indelible mark on schools and other institutions in the United States. But last year the thirtieth anniversary of another major Supreme Court opinion passed largely without comment, despite the fact that it may be the most significant decision regarding public schools since Brown. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, concluded that education was not a fundamental right and that disparities in school funding …

Single-Sex Classes In Public Secondary Schools: Maximizing The Value Of A Public Education For The Nation's Students, Ashley E. Johnson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Throughout the United States, school districts are struggling to educate their students in the face of drug problems, violence, and deteriorated home situations that permeate the lives of large numbers of today's teenagers. Many parents likewise face a daunting battle in helping their children attain an education that will enable those children to move beyond what their parents achieved financially. Additionally, recent economic downturns mean states have even less money to spend on education, forcing the quality of education in some already inadequate schools to fall further. Meanwhile, studies show that American children have fallen behind many of their foreign …

Resuscitating The National Resident Matching Program: Improving Medical Resident Placement Through Binding Dual Matching, Melinda Creasman

Vanderbilt Law Review

People outside the medical profession have likely heard of the long hours that doctors keep, but are probably unaware of the low salaries and nonnegotiable contracts that medical school graduates must accept upon entering a residency program. In fact, young doctors are among the few professionals who do not find postgraduate employment in the open job market. Currently, fourth-year medical students seeking postgraduate residency training participate in a process that matches them to a single residency program. This match dictates where the new doctor will spend the next three to seven years of her career. Upon receiving a match, the …

Silence Of The Lambs: Are States Attempting To Establish Religion In Public Schools?, Linda D.W. Lam

Vanderbilt Law Review

The proper role of religion in public schools has been a topic of bitter debate for many years. While one group of individuals believes that there should be a complete separation of church and state, another group believes that religion should have an integral place in public education. Although both groups have looked to the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the First Amendment to support their respective positions, each has been unable to find clear, definitive support regarding the appropriate relationship between religion and public schools, as there was no public education system at that time. One major issue that …

Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

Vanderbilt Law Review

The controversy over teaching evolution in public schools is once again hot news. Ever since the Supreme Court decided in 1987 that Louisiana could not constitutionally require teachers to give equal time to teaching creation science and evolution, critics of evolution have adopted a variety of new strategies to change the way in which public schools present the subject to their students. These strategies have included teaching evolution as a "theory" rather than as a fact, disclaiming the truth of evolutionary theory, teaching arguments against evolution, teaching the allegedly nontheistic theory of intelligent design instead of creationism, removing evolution from …

A Search For The Best Idea: Balancing The Conflicting Provisions Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Joshua A. Wolfe

Vanderbilt Law Review

One issue that is consistently at the forefront of political debate in America is the educational system. The debate over education involves funding, accountability, and curriculum issues, among others. One education issue that does not receive as much attention as some of the more politically charged issues is special education.

The goal of the American public school system is to educate all children, but how should that goal be implemented with regard to learning-disabled children? How does the educational system meet the individualized needs of disabled students while ensuring that these students are not isolated from the rest of the …

Returning To The True Goal Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: Self-Sufficiency, Robert C. Hannon

Vanderbilt Law Review

This country has long recognized the necessity of an education in order to function productively in society. As suggested by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, "some degree of education is necessary to prepare citizens to participate effectively and intelligently in our open political system." More recently, the Supreme Court recognized the importance of education in Brown v. Board of foreclose the means by which that group might raise the level of es- teem in which it is held by the majority .... Illiteracy is an enduring disability."

Today this need to educate remains just as pressing. Our country …

Leaving Equality Behind: New Directions In School Finance Reform, Peter Enrich

Vanderbilt Law Review

Public education, in most states, is funded in substantial part from local property taxes. As a result, resources vary widely from one school system to another, and schools in poorer communities are often severely underfunded. Over the past quarter century, many of these state financing systems have been challenged as unconstitutional, initially under the federal Equal Protection Clause and subsequently, after the Supreme Court's adverse decision in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, under equal protection clauses and education clauses included in state constitutions. These state constitutional provisions can support challenges that attack school financing systems either for the …

Out Of Focus: The Misapplication Of Traditional Equitable Principles In The Nontraditional Arena Of School Desegregation, Joseph H. Bates

Vanderbilt Law Review

Karl Marx wrote that all historical facts occur twice--the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.' In the desegregation of Little Rock, Arkansas, the genres were reversed. In 1957 the opportunistic Governor Orvall Faubus reduced to farce the Little Rock Board of Education's initial attempt to comply with the United States Supreme Court's decree in Brown v. Board of Education when he ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prohibit nine black students from entering Little Rock High School. In 1983, after more than two decades of continuous court supervision and intermittent litigation, the tragedy began when the Little …

The Lingering Legacy Of "In Loco Parentis": An Historical Survey And Proposal For Reform, Brian Jackson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The changing legal relationship between students and their college or university reflects the evolution of higher education in this country. During the Colonial period and the early years of the Republic, higher education was conducted mainly through small, church-affiliated colleges. In most cases, the founders and faculties of early American schools imitated the collegiate systems of Oxford and Cambridge. Stu- dents and their teachers aspired to withdraw from the world of everyday affairs to live and work in an environment that mirrored the families students left behind. Faculties were concerned not only with intellectual advancement but also with the development …

Academic Freedom And The University Title Vii Suit After University Of Pennsylvania V. Eeoc And Brown V. Trustees Of Boston University, Clisby L.H. Barrow

Vanderbilt Law Review

Tenure' is the crowning laurel of academia. The process of reviewing a candidate for tenure at the university level generally begins with an evaluation and recommendation by a group of the candidate's peers. Candidates who are denied tenure may seek judicial review of the decision and discovery of peer review materials. Not surprisingly, universities encourage courts to defer to tenure decisions and to deny plaintiffs access to confidential peer review documents.Traditionally, in fact, courts have given great deference to university tenure decisions. Judicial deference has pervaded every phase of review from discovery to trial and remedy. As deference to university …

Education And The Court: The Supreme Court's Educational Ideology, William B. Senhauser

Vanderbilt Law Review

The need for a definition of the functions and goals of public education is a pressing problem in our society. American society is characterized by increasing alienation, weakening family ties, and waning church influence. The result is that education will play a greater role as one of the remaining institutions to help reach societal consensus and ensure the continued vitality of American democracy. Increasing controversy and litigation over students' and parents' rights in the educational process demonstrate widespread concern with the role of public education.' As the complexities of modern society increase and the public begins to believe American cultural …

"Good Faith" And The Discharge Of Educational Loans In Chapter 13: Forging A Judicial Consensus, Jerome M. Organ

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 19781 Congress sought to accomplish many goals, some of which appear internally incompatible. For example, Congress enacted section 523(a)(8) to limit the dischargeability of educational loans in Chapter 7 liquidations. At the same time, however, Congress enacted the new Chapter 13 to encourage consumer debtors--including student borrowers--to elect repayment plans whenever feasible. Chapter 13 contains a"superdischarge" provision, which offers debtors a much broader discharge than the discharge that is available under section 523(a) in straight bankruptcy. While section 523(a)(8) excepts educational loans from discharge, section 1328(a) of Chapter 13 does not except them from …

Corporal Punishment In Public Schools: Constitutional Challenge After Ingraham V. Wright, Charles L. Schlumberger

Vanderbilt Law Review

Corporal punishment has been employed to maintain discipline and order in American schools since the colonial period.' During that era, the practice was not restricted to the classroom: corporal punishment was the generally accepted mode of correction for practically every civil and criminal offense. Attitudes toward correction did not begin to change until after the American Revolution. Since then, corporal punishment has been steadily discarded as a method of correction in both prisons and the military. Despite discontinuance in these areas, corporal punishment remains a well-established facet of the American educational process. Only a few states and municipalities have legislative …

The Inheritance Of Economic Status - By John A. Brittain, Michael R. Olneck

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Inheritance of Economic Status - by John A. Brittain

In the- mid-1960's and in the early 1970's, research results appeared that challenged conventional liberal beliefs about the causes and consequences of poverty. In 1966 the federal government published Equality of Educational Opportunity, a report prepared by James Coleman and his associates.' The data used in the report contained the startling result that, with some exceptions, within regions, the provision of educational resources was substantially uniform across racial and socioeconomic groups. Moreover, the data showed that what measurable differences existed between the schools attended by disadvantaged and advantaged students did …

Simple Justice In The Cradle Of Liberty: Desegregating The Boston Public Schools, Ronald R. Edmonds

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article provides a summary view of the desegregation of the Boston public schools. Some aspects of teaching and learning in the Boston schools clearly have improved as a direct consequence of Boston's desegregation, while others seem little affected. Teaching and learning are mentioned at the outset because later discussion will establish that black Bostonians seek desegregation as part of their larger and more general quest for improved schooling for their children.' The success or failure of desegregation therefore may fairly be judged partly on the basis of its effect upon the quality of schooling made available to black children. …

A Revolution In White--New Approaches In Treating Nurses As Professionals, Walter T. Eccard

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note will review the development of nursing as a profession, discuss current trends in nursing, review the current case law in light of these developments, and, finally, propose alternative approaches to the questions relating to nursing malpractice. Specifically, this Note will examine the questions of the appropriate statute of limitations for nursing malpractice cases, the need for nurses as expert witnesses in malpractice actions, and the proper standard of care for a registered nurse. These questions will be considered in the context of the various state licensure laws, the newly established nurse certification programs, and the formal educational training …

The Monkey Laws And The Public Schools: A Second Consumption?, Frederic S. Le Clercq

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent events suggest that the creationist movement is both potent and truly national. in scope. In California, the science curriculum guidelines for public schools were modified by a sympathetic state board of education to accommodate the creationist position.' Science textbooks for use in the public schools of California are being edited to dilute passages on evolution, and creationists almost achieved express recognition of their beliefs in the science texts. In Tennessee, a law has been passed that requires inclusion of the Biblical account of creation in biology textbooks used in the public schools." Similar legislation to require treatment of creationist …

Recent Cases, Vanderbilt Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Civil Rights--Private Education-Racially Discriminatory Admissions Policies Violate Right to Contract Provision of 42 U.S.C. § 1981

Plaintiffs, ' blacks who had been denied admission solely on the basis of their race to two all-white private schools that received no state aid,' sought damages and injunctive relief in federal district court contending that these rejections violated section 1981 of 42 U.S.C. by denying them the same right to contract as enjoyed by white citizens.

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Copyright--Telecommunications--CATV Importation of Distant Television Signals Constitutes Infringement Under Sections One (c) & (d) of the Copyright Act

Plaintiffs,' creators and producers of television programs,brought a …

Constitutional Requirements For Standardized Ability Tests Used In Education, Lewis D. Beckwith

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note examines the groundwork for possible legal remedies to correct the abuses of tests and testing procedures used by some educators. Because the standardized ability tests administered as prerequisites to college admission are perhaps the most significant obstacles to an individual's educational development, the discussion herein is directed primarily to them. This Note attempts to demonstrate that existing legal doctrines provide an adequate basis for challenging some of the standardized ability tests used in determining college entrance requirements as violations of equal protection and procedural due process. It also discusses the scope of a proper remedy for individuals aggrieved …

Post--Brown Private White Schools--An Imperfect Dualism, James E. Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

Federal courts have endeavored to assure that private discrimination practiced by schools is truly private. In this endeavor, courts have enjoined any significant state involvement as violative of the equal protection clause. The courts have shown no inclination to prohibit the private discrimination itself, however, and it appears unlikely that courts in the near future will take the innovative step of barring discrimination practiced by private white academies.

Defining And Attaining Equal Educational Opportunity In A Pluralistic Society, Ernest Q. Campbell

Vanderbilt Law Review

We in America have never made peace with the concept of pluralism. As a nation, we are fundamentally committed to the ideal of "equal opportunity"; yet, despite our presumably concomitant dedication to the principle that society should accommodate diverse values and goals,we have not conceptualized any means of determining whether equality of opportunity exists except by measuring people on the same scale. We have an appropriate rhetoric for describing equal opportunity--self-actualization, through which each person develops to the fullest extent in those directions that he or she wishes--but we have no institutionalized standards for determining whether realization of potential has …

The Negro College: Role And Prospect, Herman H. Long

Vanderbilt Law Review

American higher education, especially in the Negro college, is in a time of major crisis; the institutions are beset by many new problems and issues. Perhaps at no other time in the nation's history has higher education been more widely discussed and written about in the public press as well as in educational circles. Indeed, higher education has emerged in recent years as a national issue that ranks close to the problems of poverty, welfare, and the decline of the cities. A national policy on higher education is being formulated; resource allocation priorities are being determined; and Congress is struggling …

Recent Developments, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the recent decision of Bradley v. School Board, a Virginia federal court ordered the consolidation of the predominantly black Richmond school district with the surrounding all-white suburban school districts of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties. This decision marks the first time that a court has consolidated two or more autonomous school districts for the purpose of achieving a racial balance in the schools that reflects the racial composition of the consolidated areas as a whole. While Judge Merhige in Bradley punctiliously followed the principles enunciated by the Supreme Court in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education and its earlier desegregation …

Legal Education: A More Optimistic View, Robert B. Mckay

Vanderbilt Law Review

While few would disagree with Dean Forrester's statement that"America is now in the midst of an attempted revolution," several questions naturally arise. Dean Forrester does not identify the nature and goals of the "attempted revolution," but the inference is that he disapproves. One wonders whether he objects to change because it challenges the status quo; whether he disagrees with the direction of the proposed change; or whether he opposes the method, particularly the abruptness, with which change is being forced upon us. Each possibility merits response.

Change Versus the Status Quo. It would be unfair to Dean Forrester to suggest …

Racial Imbalance In The Public Schools: Constitutional Dimensions And Judicial Response, David B. King

Vanderbilt Law Review

Eleven years after the decision of the Supreme Court in the School Segregation Cases, white and Negro children remain separated in many school systems throughout the nation. In the South this racial separation has been persistently fostered by both school and public officials. Since the rationale of the School Segregation Cases to the effect that official policy requiring separation on the basis of race is prohibited, this racial separation in the South, commonly known as segregation, is clearly illegal. Separation of the races in the school systems of the North and West has resulted both from devious types of racially …