Law Commons^™

Disrupting The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Reforming The Role Of The School Resource Officer, Olivia Seksinsky

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

A School Resource Officer (“SRO”) is a law enforcement officer employed

by local law enforcement agencies to provide security to public schools. As

a result of fatal and highly publicized school shootings such as Columbine

and Parkland, SROs have become a fixed aspect of many school communities.

There are tens of thousands of SROs patrolling the halls of Virginia’s

public elementary and secondary schools every year. Despite their intended

purpose to keep students safe and prevent crime, SROs too often contribute

to the school-to-prison pipeline. When SROs are brought into the classroom

to address “disruptive” behaviors, students are at an …

Symposium Transcript

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Is Best Suited To Combat Sexual Violence On College Campuses?: An Analysis Of H.B. 1785, Susana Bass

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Virginia House Bill 1785, requiring campus police to notify the Commonwealth’s Attorney of any victim-initiated sexual assault investigations, is a positive step forward in helping to combat sexual assault on Virginia college campuses. Under this legislation, victims of sexual assault are much more likely to receive the protection and justice they deserve.

Part II of this comment outlines current federal law that intends to ad- dress sexual assault on college campus and whether these laws have been effective in preventing sexual assault. Part III details Virginia House Bill 1785 introduced in the 2015 Virginia General Assembly Session to address sexual …

It Takes A Federalist Village: A Revitalized Property Tax As The Linchpin For Stable, Effective K-12 Public Education Funding, Mildred Wigfall Robinson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Public education in the United States is a big business. In the fall of 2011, more than 55.5 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade were expected to enroll in the nation's public schools at a total cost of $599,145,678,000. Though it is a service provided by local governments, its cost is borne by local, state, and, to a more limited extent, federal taxpayers. Providing public education is a massive undertaking and no one level of government can solely bear its cost. Governmental revenue sources, from which allocated shares of expense are presently borne, differ. Local funding is provided predominately …

The Legacy And Implications Of San Antonio Independent School District V. Rodriguez, Charles J. Ogletree Jr.

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The Supreme Court's school desegregation case law has been a confusing maze of fits and starts. In 1954, a unanimous Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that education "must be made available to all on equal terms." Yet, less than 20 years later, the Court found a Texas education financing plan that allowed for significant differences in funding between school districts to be constitutional. This Article examines that decision, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, in more detail. It also discusses the case's legacy and numerous unresolved issues that still impact the Latino community today. Part II …

The Promises And Pitfalls Of Teacher Evaluation And Accountability Reform, Benjamin Michael Superfine

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This chapter examines the recent wave of laws aimed at enhancing teacher evaluation and accountability, and recommends strategies for moving forward in a way that holds greater promise for providing students with more equal and greater educational opportunities. First, this chapter provides a historical overview of the legal landscape governing the primary functions of the teacher workforce. Second, the major characteristics of this new wave of laws are examined. Third, the strengths and potential pitfalls entailed by these laws are analyzed in light of educational research. Finally, this chapter offers recommendations for improving teacher evaluation and accountability laws in a …

Literacy, Poverty, And Brain Development: Toward A New, Place-Based Educational Intervention, Michael R. Hilton

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This paper provides an overview of emerging research focused on how living in an area of concentrated poverty can impact brain development and explores some possible applications of this research to education policy. One of the key findings is that state and federal policy-makers may need to adopt programs that integrate educational policy with housing and planning policy in order to protect and fulfill each child's educational rights. In order to impress upon readers the scale of the nation's current educational failures and the need for a significant change in policy, this paper first addresses adult illiteracy in the United …

No Child Left Behind And Special Education: The Need For Change In Legislation That Is Still Leaving Some Students Behind, Stephanie S. Fitzgerald

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In four parts, this article focuses on NCLB's negative impact on special education. Part II outlines the provisions of NCLB and examines the differences between NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"). Part III provides a detailed explanation of the existing scholarly opinions in support of, and in disagreement with, NCLB. Part IV discusses the current political landscape and NCLB's pending reauthorization. Finally, Part V, based on an analysis of the issues plaguing the current system, suggests a solution to improve the existing relationship between special education and NCLB. Furthermore, Part V addresses the positive aspects and possible …

The All Students Initiative, Anti-Bullying And Athletics For Home-Schooled Children: Education Reform In The 2013 General Assembly Session, Ashley Allen

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 2012, Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell announced "The Governor's K-12 Education Reform Summit: Investing in Students Today, Creating the Workforce of Tomorrow. " With this announcement, the Governor praised the Commonwealth's public school system while underscoring the need for improvement by stating, "Until every child, in every zip code is guaranteed access to a quality education, we have not done our job." The Governor's summit brought legislators, education stakeholders, and policymakers into one room to discuss issues facing the K-12 education system, such as teacher pay, educational choice, technology and innovation, and workforce development." At the summit, the Governor …

Whose Choice Are We Talking About: The Exclusion Of Students With Disabilities From For-Profit Online Charter Schools, Matthew D. Bernstein

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

By examining the history of special education law against the emergence of the for-profit and online education movements, this paper explores the charter school movement from a consumer law perspective. It aims to explain why much of the current debate over test scores, "accountability," and teacher evaluation obscures other systemic fault lines that implicate the very reasons we have a public education system in the first place. In turn, the goal is to suggest solutions to some fundamental questions: in the twenty-first century, do we still need a public education system? What are our collective responsibilities to students? What does …

Reclaiming Hazelwood: Public School Classrooms And A Return To The Supreme Court's Vision For Viewpoint-Specific Speech Regulation Policy, Brad Dickens

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Federal and circuit courts continue to fiercely debate whether the Supreme Court's 1988 ruling in Hazelwood v. Kuhineier requires school policies regulating student speech and expression to be viewpoint neutral. However, this note suggests that the language of Hazelwood itself shows that the Circuit debate may be misguided. The Supreme Court intended Hazelwood to stand as a narrow exception to its earlier holding in Tinker, and Hazelwood only applies in instances where the government's own voice is implicated, largely in a public context. When the school, and in effect the government, is speaking with its own voice, the school must …

Top Jobs Act Higher Education Reform Legislation, Mark E. Rubin

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The most important piece of legislation affecting higher educa- tion passed by the 2011 Virginia General Assembly was Governor McDonnell's higher education reform bill. The title of the bill is quite expressive-"Preparing for the Top Jobs of the 21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011," or "TJ21.", It is significant because of its breadth, its innovative ap- proach to funding, and the government relations strategy utilized to assure its passage.

Protecting The Ivory Tower: Sensible Security Or Invasion Of Privacy, Stephen D. Lichtenstein

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Our beginning point is a recognition that the modern American college is not an insurer of the safety of its students. Whatever may have been its responsibility in an earlier era, the authoritarian role of today's college administrations has been notably diluted in recent decades. Trustees, administrators, and faculties have been required to yield to the expanding rights and privileges of their students. By constitutional amendment, written and unwritten law, and through the evolution of new customs, rights formerly possessed by college administrations have been transferred to students. College students today are no longer ninors; they are now regarded as …

Schools, Mandates, And Money: Education In The 2009 Session Of The Virginia General Assembly, Angela A. Ciolf

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article will recount the development of this year's revisions to the 2008-2010 budget, examine the long-term implications of budgetary decisions affecting public education, and review notable pieces of substantive education legislation. It will also highlight the major features of the new Standards of Accreditation-implementing graduation rate accountability-and special education regulations. Finally, this article will offer a framework for analyzing the critical education-funding decisions likely to come before the 2010 General Assembly as Virginia continues to feel the effects of a global economic crisis.

Deferred Education Budget Decision Has Long Range Implications, Robley Shelton Jones

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Four Senators and four Delegates conferred for the purpose of developing the public education portion of the state budget for the second year of this biennium. These Senators and Delegates met knowing full and well that Virginia ranked thirty-seventh in the nation in per pupil state support for public education in 2008. They also met with the knowledge that there was a $3.7 billion state revenue shortfall. Going into this session, education advocates perceived there to be two battles-the first battle would attempt to minimize budget cuts, while the second battle would attempt to keep the cuts from being permanent. …

Is Race In Public Schools Still Compelling?Parents Involved In Community Schools V.Seattle School District No. 1justice Breyer's Theory Of Active Liberty, Andpractical Considerations Of Democracy, Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article explores why the promise of ending our dual society, as first articulated in Brown v. Board of Education, has not been fulfilled. Specifically this article examines a more recent case, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, addressing the lost promise of Brown and the implications for our dual society.

Really Leaving No Child Behind: How The Supreme Court's Student Speech Doctrine Compromises Modern Education Reform - And How It Can Use The In Loco Parentis Doctrine To Change It, Scott J. Street

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

tudent speech" doctrine defined by Tinker in favor of an in loco parentis standard that defers to the expertise of school officials in maintaining a safe, effective, and orderly school environment. Contrary to what its critics assume, an in loco parentis standard would not give school officials carte blanche to violate their students' rights. It would, for example, prohibit school officials from discriminating against students on the basis of viewpoint. But as long as Tinker's student speech doctrine survives, efforts to improve our schools and prepare our children for the rigors of the twenty-first century will suffer. The in loco …

Public Funding For Nonpublic Education: School Vouchers Initiatives, Kathleen G. Harris

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

On June 27, 2002, in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the United States Supreme Court upheld Ohio's school voucher initiative, authorizing government aid for students in failing Cleveland public schools to attend, upon independent parental choice, private and parochial schools. Similar education reform initiatives may face distinct challenges in the Commonwealth. Significantly, traditional legal interpretation of Virginia constitutional provisions has been more restrictive than those of federal constitutional provisions addressing government entanglement with religion. While carefully crafted voucher initiatives aiding sectarian private schools may pass muster under the U.S. Constitution, application of the Commonwealth's constitutional requirements could warrant a different result.

Successfully Training And Retaining New Teachers, Jo Ann Daly, Carolyn Kazemi

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The widespread need to fill the many teacher vacancies in Virginia and the nation as a whole has stirred many debates on how to solve the problem. Often a "quick fix" attitude prevails when considering options for training and retaining teacher candidates to fill the current and future needs of our schools. The professional development model of collaboration between Marymount University and two local school jurisdictions is an ongoing effort that has met with success and has produced long-term positive results.

School Vouchers: Will They Undermine American Public Schools? Establishing A Context For Debate, Michael F. Dipaolo

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Available data from 1995 and 1996 shows that school districts with the largest concentrations of children living in poverty spent considerably less per student than districts with smaller concentrations. In 1995 and 1996, public school districts serving metropolitan areas spent more per student for instruction, support services, and capital outlay combined than did other districts. The recent rise of real personal income per capita has paralleled the increase in public revenue for education per elementary or secondary student. During the 1990s, however, revenue as a percentage of personal income, adjusted for the number of students and population size, decreased slightly, …

Charter School Legislation In Virginia: How Race, Regional Tension, And The Absence Of Crisis Produced A "Weak" Law, Frederick M. Hess, Bradley C. Davis

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The widespread success of charter school legislation has fostered a perception that charter schooling is apolitical and has clouded our understanding of the politics of the issue. In a case study of Virginia's charter school program, we suggest that three important political variables have been largely overlooked to date. The "weak" form of Virginia's charter school legislation can be attributed in large part to: (1) the schism between the educationally privileged communities of Northern Virginia and those of the rest of the state, (2) the lack of a perceived educational crisis, and (3) the vocal presence of minority opposition. Teacher …

Public Schools' Pyrrhic Victories Over Parental Rights, Michael Farris, Bradley P. Jacob

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article explores the historical roots of parental rights in education, and then demonstrates that Professors Uerling and Strope are quite correct when they declare parental rights in public education to be "almost extinct." Next, it examines the stark contrasts between the rights of public school parents and those of parents who choose private and home schooling. Finally, this article suggests that since the constitutionality of educational choice, including choices involving religious schools, has been established beyond any legitimate question, public school advocates and courts should rethink their position concerning parental rights within public education lest they contribute to the …

Nqsi: Quality Schools Come From Quality People, Anita O. Poston, Thomas B. Lockamy, Gary L. Ruegsegger

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Since the time of the now fabled one room schoolhouse, American schools have undergone tremendous change socially, structurally, and instructionally. Our public schools are under the microscope like never before. Charter schools and tuition vouchers circle above public education like vultures. New special education regulations loom menacingly on the horizon. Prophets of doom are on every street comer and in every Internet chat room. The Virginia General Assembly has mandated higher standards and tougher discipline. Innumerable publications document both technology's explosion and the American family's implosion. Against this seemingly foreboding backdrop, a school district in Southeastern Virginia researched, designed, and …

The Greatest Evasion: Why Technology Won't Save Education, Kevin Mattson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Americans place an enormous amount of faith in education=s power to solve social problems. Today, liberals tend to believe that education can improve our attitudes, making us less racist by broadening our perspective and knowledge of different people and cultures. Conservatives often argue that education can solve our economic problems by training citizens for jobs and increasing their capacity for upward social mobility. Indeed, President Clinton, who may be viewed as bridging liberal and conservative ideals, posed education as a solution to economic dislocation. His solution is to provide unemployed citizens with the necessary skills to find new forms of …

The Revolution In Higher Education, James V. Koch

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian born economist and social historian who spent a major part of his academic career at Harvard, was a cogent observer of how societies develop. His Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy is still considered a classic. Schumpeter spoke of "perennial gales of creative destruction" (often technological) that shock societies and force change. The advent of electricity and the coming of the automobile illustrate technologies that created new power arrangements and destroyed or modified existing institutions. Higher education is now in the midst of a Schumpeterian "gale of creative destruction"--a revolution, many say. After almost 150 years of reliance …