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Full-Text Articles in Law

Rethinking Constitutionality In Education Rights Cases, Joshua E. Weishart Jan 2020

Rethinking Constitutionality In Education Rights Cases, Joshua E. Weishart

Arkansas Law Review

Education rights cases often devolve into a farce of constitutional brinkmanship played by a miserable cast of reluctant courts and recalcitrant legislatures. Between successive rounds of litigation and tepid legislative fixes, come threats of impeaching judges, closing schools, stripping courts of jurisdiction, and holding legislators in contempt. Despite all the bluster, judges and legislators both anxiously await the curtain call, when they can bow out and terminate the matter. In the end, what passes for constitutionality in the successful cases is a school funding scheme judged “reasonably likely” or “reasonably calculated” to achieve an adequate or equitable education—as opposed to …


In The Room Where It Happens: Including The “Public’S Will” In Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Twinette L. Johnson Jan 2020

In The Room Where It Happens: Including The “Public’S Will” In Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Twinette L. Johnson

Arkansas Law Review

In the context of higher education reform, the people need to be in the important rooms where the decisions are being made. One such room is the courtroom. This essay elaborates on this premise, previously written about in an article I wrote entitled, 50,000 Voices Can’t Be Wrong, But Courts Might Be: How Chevron’s Existence Contributes to Retrenching the Higher Education Act. That article was the second in a series of three articles on the retrenchment of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (“HEA”) using the William Eskridge and John Ferejohn statutory entrenchment model.


Enforcing The Right To Public Education, Areto A. Imoukhuede Jan 2020

Enforcing The Right To Public Education, Areto A. Imoukhuede

Arkansas Law Review

This paper suggests that although each state within the United States currently recognizes a right to public education, the states do not provide meaningful and consistent judicial enforcement of the right. Recognizing a federal fundamental right to public education would be a step towards ensuring meaningful and consistent judicial enforcement of the right.


Charter Schools, Academy Schools, And Related-Party Transactions: Same Scams, Different Countries, Preston C. Green Iii, Chelsea E. Connery Jan 2020

Charter Schools, Academy Schools, And Related-Party Transactions: Same Scams, Different Countries, Preston C. Green Iii, Chelsea E. Connery

Arkansas Law Review

In the course of the last quarter century, governmental entities in both the United States and England have sought to encourage educational innovation by creating publicly funded schools that are independent from many of the rules that apply to locally controlled schools. These schools are called charter schools in the United States and academy schools (academies) in England. Private companies run a high percentage of these charter schools and academies. In the United States, these companies are commonly referred to as educational management organizations (EMOs). In England, these organizations are called academy trusts (ATs).


Unchartered Territory For The "Bluegrass State": Lessons To Be Learned From Over A Quarter-Century Of State Charter School Legislation, Kevin P. Brady, Wayne D. Lewis Jr. Jan 2020

Unchartered Territory For The "Bluegrass State": Lessons To Be Learned From Over A Quarter-Century Of State Charter School Legislation, Kevin P. Brady, Wayne D. Lewis Jr.

Arkansas Law Review

Charter school success or failure is not simply a matter of chance. Both the existence and aggregate quality of charter schools in a state depend on the provisions of state charter school laws. These laws address a wide range of issues and vary from state to state. But the experiences of states with significant charter sectors, as well as those with innovative charter policies, provide important lessons for the charter school movement as a whole.


Perversity As Rationality In Teacher Evaluation, Scott R. Bauries Jan 2020

Perversity As Rationality In Teacher Evaluation, Scott R. Bauries

Arkansas Law Review

Rational basis review is broken. Consider a vignette: Imagine a student, Lisa, who is about to graduate high school. Lisa has already completed all of the graduation course requirements early and is spending her time during her senior year taking interesting electives and dual-enrollment college courses. The state has a statute that requires school districts to deny a diploma to any student “who, during the final year of school attendance, fails to achieve a passing score on the state-approved, end-of-course exams in the courses of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies in which that student is then-currently enrolled.”


Breaking The Norm Of School Reform, Derek W. Black Jan 2020

Breaking The Norm Of School Reform, Derek W. Black

Arkansas Law Review

Major school improvement efforts have failed in recent decades for two reasons. First, the endless pursuit of reform for reform’s sake over the last few years undermines school improvement.1 Second, we have abandoned or, at least, lost our focus on the fundamental educational goals that animated education policy decades—and sometimes centuries—ago. Those goals, while never fully attained, have always sought to move us to a more just system of public education. By losing that focus, our education systems remain wedded to practical norms that consistently undermine equal and adequate educational opportunities.


The State Of Education Reform, Danielle Weatherby Jan 2020

The State Of Education Reform, Danielle Weatherby

Arkansas Law Review

From the earliest days of the common school to the present struggle to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, the country has expected that education will equip citizens for economic survival and growth; prepare them for an increasingly global marketplace; strengthen the bonds among people from different racial, ethnic, cultural, and social class groups; and sustain the nation’s democratic institutions. If schools are to do their part in contributing to fulfilling these goals, they need to be extraordinarily resilient and resourceful, and they need to be open to change.