Education Law Commons^™

Has Time Expired For Zero Tolerance Policies?, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Zero-tolerance policies call for the consistent application of consequences for student offenses involving violence, bullying, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and weapons in school or at school-sponsored events. As educators struggled to eliminate student violence during the last 25 years, states adopted zero-tolerance statutes to address the rise of juvenile delinquency and the possession of weapons and drugs in schools.

Insofar as debates over zero-tolerance policies rage as violence, bullying, drugs, tobacco, and weapons in schools continue to be a major concern for educators, the remainder of this column is divided into three substantive sections. The first section briefly reviews arguments in …

When The Classroom Is Not In The Schoolhouse: Applying Tinker To Student Speech At Online Schools, Brett T. Macintyre

Seattle University Law Review

Despite the overwhelming increase in students’ Internet use and the growing popularity of online public schools, the United States Supreme Court has never addressed how, or if, schools can discipline students for disruptive online speech without violating the students’ First Amendment rights. What the Supreme Court has addressed is how school administrators can constitutionally discipline students within traditional schools. In a landmark decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court announced the now famous principle that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Still, the Court …

2013 Legislative Review, Reed Greenwood, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The 89th General Assembly in Arkansas convened on Monday January 14th and would file 2,640 pieces of legislation over the next 100 days. Of this legislation, there were 145 House Bills, 4 House Resolutions, and 97 Senate Bills referred to either the House or Senate Education Committees. That is a grand total of 246 pieces of “education” legislation representing roughly 9 percent of legislation filed in the session. The purpose of this policy brief is to review some of the “high -profile” education bills during the session. The highlighted bills here are split into three categories: 1) school choice, 2) …

The California Supreme Court, Pettit And Disciplinary Proceedings Against Teachers, John H. Paulsen

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lindros V. Governing Board Of Torrance Unified School District , Patrick Callahan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Get A Diploma Or To Get Welfare: Duncan's Dilemma, Nina E. West

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Excessive Entanglement: Development Of A Guideline For Assessing Acceptable Church-State Relationships , James M. Zoetewey

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Limitations On Permissible State Aid To Church-Related Schools Under The Establishment Clause: Wolman V. Walter, Timothy J. Blied

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Rankings And Rules On Legal Education Reform, David Yellen

Articles

Legal education is experiencing intense pressures and is undergoing profound changes. Two important forces that help shape and limit the nature and scope of legal education reform are the U.S. News & World Report rankings and the American Bar Association's accreditation standards. The push and pull of these forces helps explain why law schools are embracing some changes and resisting others

In Defense Of Deference: The Case For Respecting Educational Autonomy And Expert Judgments In Fisher V. Texas, Eboni S. Nelson

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Due Process And Employee Performance, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

As school boards face financial challenges due to a faltering nation economy and increasing calls for accountability, school business officials and other education leaders need to develop plans for effective documentation of staff performance to justify employment decisions and to avoid unnecessary litigation.

All states require education leaders to provide varying levels of due process when dealing with teachers and other staff members with tenure or continuing contracts who are subject to discipline or dismissal, but the laws often leave practical details unanswered.

The Legislative Purposes And Intent Of The Common Levy In Nebraska’S Learning Community, Matthew L. Blomstedt

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this historical study was to establish the purposes and intent of the common levy in Nebraska’s learning community. The development of this unique regional educational structure consisting of eleven school districts in the Omaha, Nebraska metropolitan area is central to the study. The research detailed the context of the decisions made by the Nebraska Legislature to establish and implement the learning community law from 2005 and 2012. Specifically, the study focused on the establishment of a regional tax base, the common levy, as a response to boundary and finance instability that persisted in the Omaha area. The …

The Fallacy Of Free Market Democracy: Marginalization Through Chilean Health Care And Education, Robin L. Young

Senior Capstone Theses

This thesis examines how neoliberal policies implemented during Augusto Pinochet’s sixteen-year military regime in Chile have affected post-dictatorship democratization. It argues that democracy has been incomplete in Chile since the fall of Pinochet’s regime, due mainly to the three neoliberal policies of deregulation, decentralization, and decreased government funding. Through the detailed analysis of Chile’s health care and education systems, this thesis demonstrates how these neoliberal policies drastically changed social welfare practices in Chile during the 1980s, leading to extreme social inequality that has only continued to increase in the last thirty years. This social inequality, as well as the marginalization …

Procedures And Remedies Under Section 504 And The Ada For Public School Children With Disabilities, Mark C. Weber

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Much has been written about procedures and remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but few scholars have explored procedural rights and corresponding mechanisms of administrative and judicial relief for victims of public schools' violations of children's rights under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This paper will discuss the administrative procedures that must be followed in hearings regarding complaints of violations of those laws by public school districts and the relief that hearing officers and courts may provide. It will begin with an update on developments regarding …

The Helter Skelter World Of Idea Eligibility For Specific Learning Disability: The Clash Of Response-To-Intervention And Child Find Requirements, Torin D. Togut, Jennifer E. Nix

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

It's Time For An Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedure, S. James Rosenfeld

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Disabled Students' Rights Of Access To Charter Schools Under The Idea, Section 504 And The Ada, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Charter schools are under increasing attack for denying admission to disabled students. But traditional schools also turn away disabled students, often preventing them from attending schools in their neighborhood or within their district. This Article discusses when a school is permitted under federal disability law to deny admission to a disabled student. After nearly four decades of special education jurisprudence and regulatory guidance, the circumstances under which a student with a disability may be denied admission to a particular school are still remarkably unclear. This Article first discusses the ‘zero-reject‘ principle underlying the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and concludes …

California Hearing Officer Decisions, Ruth Colker

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

School Districts And Families Under The Idea: Collaborative In Theory, Adversarial In Fact, Debra Chopp

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article highlights the myriad forces that impede the realization of the IDEA's goals. Part II gives an overview of the history of special education and the special education process under the IDEA, particularly as it relates to the cooperative development of an individualized education program (IEP) for a disabled child. Part III examines features of the special education process that operate to the systematic detriment of parents, particularly low-income parents, and prevent them from securing an “appropriate education” for their children. What Part III does is assemble these critiques and add one that has not received attention: the ability …

Have The Amendments To The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Razed Rowley And Raised The Substantive Standard For "Free Appropriate Public Education?", Perry A. Zirkel

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Categorical Funding In Arkansas, Reed Greenwood, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

As a result of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Lake View v. Huckabee Decision, the Public School Funding Act of 2003 established Arkansas’ current funding system. A part of the current system allocates additional funding for districts based on need (categorical funding). In doing so, the state recognizes that it is necessary to distribute additional funding based on educational need to meet adequacy and equity standards. The system allocates funding for groups of students who face particular challenges: Alternative Learning Environment students (ALE), English-language Learners (ELL), and students in poverty (National School Lunch Act). In the current legislative session, lawmakers are …

Creeping Judicialization In Special Education Hearings?: An Exploratory Study, Perry A. Zirkel, Zorka Karanxha, Anastasia D'Angelo

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Placing The Ball In Congress' Court: A Critical Analysis Of The Supreme Court's Decision In Arlington Central School District Board Of Education V. Murphy, 126 S. Ct. 2455 (2006), Ashlie D'Errico Surur

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

The Scales Tip In Favor Of Parents In Winkelman V. Parma City School District, Nidya Aldana Paredes

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This case note presents a thorough examination of the Supreme Court's recent opinion in Winkelman and its effect on parents and school districts involved in special education law. Part II relates the historical background of special education law with an emphasis on the role of parents. In Part III the facts of the Winkelman decision are summarized. Part IV sets forth an analytical critique of the Supreme Court majority and dissenting opinions. Then Part V of the article contains the impact of the Winkelman decision on special education law in general and on parents and school districts. Part VI concludes …

Delineating Administrative Exhaustion Requirements And Establishing Federal Courts' Jurisdiction Under The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: Lessons From The Case Law And Proposals For Congressional Action , Lewis M. Wasserman

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), enacted through Congress's Spending Clause Power, is the principal federal statute aimed at insuring that children with disabilities receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the nation's public schools. The Act has spawned a substantial and growing body of litigation between parents and local and state educational agencies in federal and state courts during the last decade. During this period nearly 20%-21% of these cases have addressed the issue of exhaustion of IDEA's administrative remedies, and the related concern about federal courts' jurisdiction, when the law's exhaustion requirements have not been satisfied. …

Hovering Too Close: The Ramifications Of Helicopter Parenting In Higher Education, Kathleen Vinson

Georgia State University Law Review

“They are needy, overanxious and sometimes plain pesky—and schools at every level are trying to find ways to deal with them. No, not students. Parents—specifically parents of today’s ‘millennial generation’ who, many educators are discovering, can’t let their kids go.”

Some parents, called “helicopter parents” for constantly hovering over their children, are now making higher institutions their landing pads. They hover from the prospective admissions stage to graduation and the job market beyond—contacting presidents of universities, deans, and professors, disputing their child’s grade; requesting an extension for their child; complaining their child does not receive as much praise as the …

Pimping Brown V. Board Of Education: The Destruction Of African-American Schools And The Mis-Education Of African-American Students, Irving Joyner

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Harmonizing Current Threats: Using The Outcry For Legal Education Reforms To Take Another Look At Civil Gideon And What It Means To Be An American Lawyer”, Cathryn A. Miller-Wilson

Working Paper Series

Drawing from the broad and varied literature on legal ethics, the paper demonstrates that legal education and access to justice concerns can and should be addressed simultaneously in our current political and economic climate. Current threats to legal education, and to lawyering in general, present an opportunity for legal education transformation. Applying legal ethics theory to an analysis of these threats provides support for the creation of teaching law firms, similar in size and scope to teaching hospitals, that will employ clinical teaching methodology, substantially enhance ethics teaching and significantly address the issue of access to justice.

School Bullying Victimization As An Educational Disability, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Parts I and II of this essay urge school authorities, parents, and other concerned citizens to perceive bullying victimization as a disability that burdens targeted students. Since 1975, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has guaranteed “full educational opportunity to all children with disabilities” in every state. The IDEA reaches both congenital disabilities and disabilities that, like bullying victimization, stem from events or circumstances unrelated to biology or birth. To set the context for perceiving bullying victimization as an educational disability, Part I describes the public schools' central role in protecting bullied students, and then briefly discusses the …

Goodwill U: School Name Change & Trademark Law, Alexandra J. Roberts

IP Theory

No abstract provided.