Law Commons^™

Tax Benefits And Fairness In K–12 Education, Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the tax law’s subsidies for inequality and segregation in primary and secondary education, analyzing the federal charitable deduction and education savings plans, and state tax credits for education. It argues that the tax system diverts funds from traditional public education into private education, fostering economic, racial, religious, and political separation. The tax law also operates to increase resource inequality within public education by subsidizing schools that affluent children attend. In a novel analysis, the Article contends that the jurisprudence around the charitable deduction for education—though longstanding—is legally incoherent, and argues that no deduction should ever be allowed …

Special Education Disparities Are Social Determinants Of Health: A Role For Medical-Legal Partnerships, Karen Bonuck, Leah Hill

Faculty Scholarship

Problem: Education is a key social determinant of health. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) purportedly affords children the right to a free and appropriate education. Yet, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities exist regarding appropriate identification and classification of children with needs for special education, and access to services.

Purpose: This article first highlights gaps and disparities in special educational services, and their structural linkage to poverty. The second section describe the first years of a medical–legal collaboration between a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) and Fordham University, focused on special education.

Key Points: The …

Faculty Insights On Educational Diversity, Meera E. Deo

Fordham Law Review

Twice in the past two years, the U.S. Supreme Court has approved educational diversity as a compelling state interest that justifies the use of race in higher education admissions decisions. Nevertheless, it remains on somewhat shaky ground. Over the past decade, the Court has emphasized that its acceptance of diversity stems from the expectation that a diverse student body will enhance the classroom environment, with students drawing on their diverse backgrounds during classroom conversations that ultimately bring the law to life. Yet, the Court provides no support for its assumption that admitting and enrolling diverse students actually result in these …

Mortgaging The American Dream: The Misplaced Role Of Accreditation In The Federal Student Loan System, Kathleen Negri

Fordham Law Review

In 2013, outstanding student loan balances in the United States exceeded $994 billion. This growing volume of student debt has had far–reaching consequences for both individual borrowers and society as a whole. In many ways, the federal student loan program, available to students under the Higher Education Act (HEA), has achieved its goal of making higher education more accessible. Undergraduate college enrollment increased from 10.5 million students in 1980 to 17.6 million students in 2009. Despite the benefit of increased enrollment, however, the federal loan program has been criticized for increasing student loan debt and contributing to the “student loan …

Privacy And Cloud Computing In Public Schools, Joel Reidenberg, N. Cameron Russell, Jordan Kovnot, Thomas B. Norton, Ryan Cloutier, Daniela Alvarado

Center on Law and Information Policy

Today, data driven decision-making is at the center of educational policy debates in the United States. School districts are increasingly turning to rapidly evolving technologies and cloud computing to satisfy their educational objectives and take advantage of new opportunities for cost savings, flexibility, and always-available service among others. As public schools in the United States rapidly adopt cloud-computing services, and consequently transfer increasing quantities of student information to third-party providers, privacy issues become more salient and contentious. The protection of student privacy in the context of cloud computing is generally unknown both to the public and to policy-makers. This study …

Unclear Authority, Unclear Futures: Challenges To State Legislation Providing In-State Tuition Benefits To Undocumented Students Pursuing Higher Education, Julia R. Kim

Fordham Law Review

Exercising its federal power to regulate immigration, Congress has responded to illegal immigration by enacting deterrent legislation that includes provisions denying public benefits to undocumented immigrants. One of these provisions, 8 U.S.C. § 1623, explicitly bars states from providing postsecondary education benefits to undocumented immigrants on the basis of in-state residency. As a consequence, undocumented young adults—many of whom grew up and received their primary and secondary education in the United States—are effectively barred from pursuing higher education by their ineligibility for in-state tuition rates and financial aid. Some states, however, have evaded the § 1623 bar by providing undocumented …

Hats Off To Claire Flom: Education And The Importance Of Being Involved , Judith S. Kaye

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This transcript of the Claire Flom lecture covers primarily two themes—the importance of early intervention, and the importance of people getting involved with the public school system and in their children - and other children's education The lecture applies these concepts first to children with special education needs and then to adolescents, kids at the brink of adulthood. The article argues that early intervening early is key to both populations and that neglected learning difficulties only worsen with the passage of time.

Teaching Without Infringement: A New Model For Educational Fair Use , David A. Simon

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Intersection Of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 And The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Suzanne Solomon

Fordham Law Review

This Note reviews the history, structure, and purpose of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It then describes how the two statutes intersect and interact. Next, this Note examines the existing split in the U.S. Courts of Appeals regarding the availability of § 1983 as a remedy for violations of the IDEA. This Note ultimately contends that Congress intended § 1983 suits to prevail under the IDEA and argues that school districts will be deterred from violating the statute's provisions if such suits are allowed to proceed.

Reconciling Morse With Brandenburg, Steven Penaro

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines Morse v. Frederick in connection with the Brandenburg v. Ohio test governing speech that advocates unlawful acts. In Morse, the U.S. Supreme Court devised a new test that gives school officials the power to restrict student speech promoting the use of illegal drugs. However, in Brandenburg, the Supreme Court held that speech must be struck down if the speaker intends to incite imminent lawless action and that speech is likely to produce such action. This Note argues that a relaxed application of the Brandenburg standard would be useful in prohibiting student drug speech within a school setting.

Misinterpreting "Sounds Of Silence": Why Courts Should Not "Imply" Congressional Preclusion Of § 1983 Constitutional Claims, Rosalie Berger Levinson

Fordham Law Review

Despite the clear text of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, its promise to protect constitutional rights has been obfuscated by the theory that Congress, by enacting civil rights laws, has "impliedly" foreclosed the historic use of § 1983 to vindicate constitutional wrongdoing. Increasingly, plaintiffs are being denied their right to vindicate constitutional wrongdoing, either because the new "preempting" federal statute does not trigger individual liability or because it makes institutional liability more difficult to establish. It is counterintuitive to believe that Congress, in an attempt to expand equality or due process, intended to cut off existing remedies for constitutional violations. Nonetheless, …

Myth And Reality Of University Trusteeship In The Post-Enron Era, José A. Cabranes

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Children Left Behind: Roma Access To Education In Contemporary Romania, Aram A. Schvey, Martin S. Flaherty, Tracy E. Higgins

Crowley Mission Reports

In Romania, Roma children are nearly always educated in more poorly resourced schools than non-Roma children; they are nearly always educated by less-qualified teachers; and they are often treated differently—and worse—than non-Roma children by their principals, teachers, and classmates. While non-Roma children move ahead through Romania’s education system, Roma children are too often left behind. This Report begins with a synopsis of the problem. It then examines the roots of the plight of the Roma in general and of Roma children in particular. The Report then outlines the particular findings of the Mission and sets forth the relevant domestic, international, …

School Choice To Achieve Desegregation, Goodwin Liu, William L. Taylor

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Education After Law School: Lessons From Scotland And Englan, Clark D. Cunningham

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article addresses the issue of the needed collaboration between law schools and law firms about legal education after law school. The author proposes pilot projects be launched to increase collaboration between legal academics and law firms in the provision of legal education after law school. The Article suggests that the programs emulate the close partnerships that exist between the legal academy and legal profession in England and Scotland. The Article acknowledges why the training of lawyers is different now than in the past. The author compares the American law firm training programs with the post school education that takes …

Footing The Bill For A Sound Basic Education In New York City: The Implementation Of Campaign For Fiscal Equity V. State, Bonnie A. Scherer

Fordham Urban Law Journal

On March 16, 2005, in what appeared to be a victory for the children of New York City, the Court of Appeals of New York, applying the Education Article, upheld a lower court decision and recommendation, by a panel of judicially appointed Special Referees, holding that the New York State school funding system failed to provide New York City children with a “sound basic education.” The Court of Appeals mandated that the State Legislature phase in $5.6 billion annually, as well as an additional $9.2 billion in a capital fund to reform the City public schools. The opinion, however, failed …

Profits And Professionalism, Deborah Rhode

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article looks at the financial effect of ethics work. The author examines to what effect and under what circumstances “ethics pays,” and what can be done to increase the rate of return. The article studies this issue in three different contexts. First, it looks at workplace cultures and professional values. The author tries to find how the legal professional can create more organizational structures in which adhering to principles serves prudential interests. The second context is pro bono work. Here, the author looks at the pro bono benefits to, the lawyer, and legal employer, as well as the costs …

Reflections On Justice Before And After Brown , Constance Baker Motley

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article discusses the important role that Brown v. Board of Education and the federal legislation that followed from it played in nullifying the Jim Crow edits. The Article examines how the result in Brown and certain subsequent events allowed for the creation of a black middle class. Martin Luther King's movement directly challenging state-forced segregation was highly effective in this matter; his 1963 march on Washington, in which 250,000 people turned up in support, became the turning point in the segregation battle. Brown also served as a predicate for the passage of the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act which …

Large Law Firms And Their Role In The Educational Continuum Of Lawyers, Paula A. Patton

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article examines the ways in which large law firms have served as educators. Furthermore, the Author considers how law firm efforts as educators might be enhanced. The paper looks at the necessity for law firms to continue to educate their associates and the motivation for associate training. The author proposes that law firms must embrace comprehensive strategies that impart performance standards, benchmarks, and core competencies through experiential training.

University Dons And Warrior Chieftains: Two Concepts Of Diversity, Thomas H. Lee

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legislating Accountability: Standards, Sanctions, And School District Reform , Aaron J. Saiger

Faculty Scholarship

The “New Accountability” movement in American education purports to catalyze improvement in American education by setting clear state standards for academic performance, measuring performance against those standards, and disseminating information about results. This Article argues that the potential of state accountability programs lies not in their imposition of standards but in their imposition of a sanction - the disestablishment of school districts, which entails unseating the local superintendent and school board and replacing them with state officials or their designees - that is extremely painful for the targeted district but is also painful for states to impose. The first Part …

Econometric Analyses Of U.S. Abortion Policy: A Critical View, Jonathan Klick

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article surveys, in non-technical language, various econometric studies on the correlation between changes in access to abortion (whether through legalization, increased public funding, increased safety, etc.) and social phenomena such as sexual activity, crime, and opportunities for women. It argues that many econometrics-based abortion studies are contentious, often yielding varying results depending on the stakes of those commissioning the studies, and often too technical to be useful to policy-makers. As a result of these shortcomings, the author calls for methodological soundness and publication for a more general audience for those social scientists who want to enter the reproductive rights …

The Conception Of Brown, Robert L. Carter

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article discusses the pervasive racism that continues to exist in the United States and examines the critical role that the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education played in transforming race relations. The Article stresses the need to find a way to rid the country of race and color differentiation and emphasizes the deleterious effect that segregated school systems have on black school childrens ability to learn. The Article examines how Brown came about and states that the Court's rejection of Plessy v. Ferguson is what makes the case so significant. The Article discusses some of the important …

The Judicial Betrayal Of Blacks - Again: The Supreme Court's Destruction Of The Hopes Raised By Brown V. Board Of Education, Nathaniel R. Jones

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article discusses the history of school desegregation beginning with the pivotal decision in Brown v. Board of Education and noting the hopes that the case raised for black americans. The Article notes the resistance that Brown faced, especially from political forces who began to subvert the desegregation process, and examines the Supreme Court's subsequent decisions which aimed to secure Brown's objectives. The Article also examines the desegregation attempts in the North and discusses the difficulties plaintiffs faced in proving racial discrimination in school districts. The Article concludes by stating that the commitment to desegregation is waring and that segregation …

"Press Prudence," Nazi Student Orders, And Jim Crow, Louis H. Pollak

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article discusses the 1931 decision of the Austrian Constitutional Court in which it was held that rules promulgated by the University of Vienna, which aimed to separate the student body into four ethnically-defined nations, were invalid. The Article notes the striking similarities of the case to Brown v. Board of Education and other American equal protection education cases. In examining the decision the article states that in declining to uphold an equivalent to the 'separate but equal' doctrine, the Austrian justices did for Austrian law what Plessy had failed to do for US law thirty five years before. The …

A Tangled Web: Compliance Director Liability Under The Securities Laws, Anthony Pirraglia

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Freedom To Exclude After Boy Scouts Of America V. Dale: Do Private Schools Have A Right To Discriminate Against Homosexual Teachers?, Karen Lim

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Children's Internet Protection Act In Public Schools: The Government Stepping On Parents' Toes?, Kelly Rodden

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zelman V. Simmons-Harris: Is The Supreme Court's Latest Word On School Voucher Programs Really The Last Word?, Sara J. Crisafulli

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Colorblind Lottery, Pauline T. Kim

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.