Education Law Commons^™

The War On Women's Fundamental Rights: Connecting U.S. Supreme Court Originalism To Rightwing, Conservative Extremism In American Politics, Donna J. King

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause, intended to protect fundamental rights for all citizens, including women, has been systematically undermined by the U.S. Supreme Court's originalist interpretations. This erosion, exemplified by cases like SlaughterHouse, has emboldened right-wing extremism and threatens women's rights, particularly in the context of unenumerated fundamental rights. The article contends that the Court's narrow constructions and disregard for legislative history have perpetuated inequality and stripped the Clause of its intended protective power.

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

Articles

To read the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is to be impressed with the ambition and promise of special education. The statute guarantees disabled students a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) in the "least restrictive environment." At the core of this guarantee lies an entitlement for the parents of a disabled child to collaborate with teachers and school administrators to craft an educational program that is both tailored to the child's unique needs and designed to help her make progress in her education. This entitlement, and the IDEA generally, represents an enormous advance for children with disabilities--a community that, …

Catholic Schools And Broken Windows, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

Our previous work has suggested that the closure of Catholic elementary schools generates disorder and suppresses social cohesion in urban neighborhoods-findings that support the conclusion that Catholic elementary schools create neighborhood social capital. We extend our inquiry here by asking if Catholic school closures might also affect crime rates. Using factors independent from neighborhood indicators, specifically school and parish leadership characteristics, we created an exogenous factor that predicted which Catholic schools might close in urban Chicago, and used that factor, with sociodemographic variables, to predict police-beat-level crime rates. We find that Catholic school closures slow the rate of decline of …

Affirmative Action In Higher Education Symposium: Comment, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

This issue – affirmative action in higher education – is an issue of enormous significance for the country. So I don't for a second treat this as just another conversation about an important legal question. I think this is one of those issues that define the country.

I'll tell you what I did as President of the University of Michigan, and in the course of that I'll try to explain the ways in which we formulated the cases that went to the Supreme Court and resulted in very important clarifications to the Fourteenth Amendment and affirmative action. Then I want …

Minnie Liddell's Forty-Year Quest For Quality Public Education Remains A Dream Deferred, Kimberly Jade Norwood

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article is a historic account of the hopes and dreams that a mother had for her children and her efforts to make those hopes and dreams come true. The mother, Minnie Liddell, never imagined, when she first became a mom in 1959, or years later after the birth of her fifth child, or even after she filed a lawsuit against a city school district, that she would become a pioneer and icon in the school desegregation history of St. Louis, Missouri. She really only wanted a quality public education for her children, for black children, for all children. This …

Education's Elusive Future, Storied Past, And The Fundamental Inequities Between, Derek W. Black

Georgia Law Review

During the past half-century, education has experienced
a broad expansion of civil rights. Where no rights
previously existed, students now have the right to be free
from discrimination based on race, language status,
disability, wealth, gender, and homelessness. The full
development of these rights, along with substantive
educational improvements for disadvantaged students,
however, has recently stalled. For instance, mandatory
school desegregation, which laid the political and
theoretical foundation for other movements, is nearly non-
existent today. Other movements fare better than
desegregation, but nonetheless face serious limitations.
The overall trend of these various movements raises
serious questions about the prospects …

The First Amendment, Public School Students, And The Need For Clear Limits On School Officials' Authority Over Off-Campus Student Speech, Rory A. Weeks

Georgia Law Review

When, if ever, can school officials punish a student's off-
campus speech? The Supreme Court's student-speech
jurisprudence does not provide a clear answer. But this
much is clear: School officials do not possess absolute
authority over students' on-campus speech. Public school
students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the
schoolhouse gate. And yet during school or school-related
activities, public school students do not have coequal First
Amendment rights with adults in other contexts. During
school or school-related activities, school officials may
proscribe otherwise-permitted speech in order to fulfill the
school's basic educational mission, which includes
instructingstudents in civility. …

"Of Greater Value Than The Gold Of Our Mountains": The Right To Education In Colorado's Nineteenth- Century Constitution, Tom I. Romero, Ii

University of Colorado Law Review

As the contemporary battle for educational opportunity has moved to state courts, the education clauses of a state's constitution have played prominent roles in the litigation. Of particular concern has been the role that history should play in interpreting the scope and meaning of various provisions of a clause. This Article advances this debate by examining the development of article IX (the education clause) in Colorado's 1876 "Centennial" Constitution. The Article first details the efforts to provide free public education in the United States in the decades leading to the drafting of the Colorado state constitution in 1876. Colorado, as …

The Politics Of Physical Education Reform, Ari Zyskind

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of the paper is to determine why today's youth are so physically inactive by examining the role and efforts of physical education, and the state and federal governments responsibility in supporting these programs, in fighting today's obesity epidemic by creating generations of healthy and physically active children. Research led to the determination that states have failed to maintain and improve physical education resulting in a physically inactive youth. Therefore, the nation should look to federal legislation to support state-led physical education, which this paper found to be constitutional if the enactments followed the provisions established in South Dakota …

Letting The Legislature Decide: Why The Court's Use Of In Loco Parentis Ought To Be Praised, Not Condemned, Tyler Stoehr

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

To License Or Not To License? A Look At Differing Approaches To Policing The Activities Of Nonlawyer Immigration Service Providers, Careen Shannon

Cardozo Law Review

State (and some local) governments have struggled to find ways to protect immigrants from exploitation by persons falsely holding themselves out as immigration lawyers or claiming expertise as notarios or immigration consultants. Existing legislation ranges from attempts to regulate the activities of nonlawyer immigration service providers (ISPs) by delineating prohibited practices; to requiring ISPs to post a bond or register with the state; to specifically restricting the provision of immigration assistance for compensation by any nonlawyer who is not accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals to transcription, translation, document procurement and related clerical tasks. A comparative look at the …

Special Education Year In Review: What's New Legally And So What For Us?, Lynwood E. Beekman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nclb Waivers, Misty Newcomb, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

No Child Left Behind, or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is long overdue for reauthorization. Speculation concerning when and how this controversial act would be reauthorized has occurred throughout the Obama administration. In a somewhat surprising move last week, President Obama unilaterally created rules for NCLB waivers. This policy brief provides a brief background, followed by a discussion on the new NCLB flexibility and how these changes could affect schools in Arkansas.

Stop With The Exceptions: A Narrow Interpretation Of Tinker For All Student Speech Claims, Matthew Sheffield

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article examines the evolution of First Amendment rights for students in public schools, focusing on the landmark *Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District* decision and its subsequent interpretations. While Tinker established that students retain their constitutional rights in schools, later Supreme Court rulings, such as Fraser, Hazelwood, and Morse, have narrowed its application, balancing student free speech against school administrative concerns. The article argues that these post-Tinker decisions are consistent with the original intent of Tinker and advocate for a narrow application of its principles to maintain equilibrium between student rights and school authority.

Raising The Kindergarten Entry Age, Misty Newcomb, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In recent years, the standards in Arkansas for entry into kindergarten underwent changes that can be difficult to understand. Across the nation, states have increased the minimum age of entry into public schools, and Arkansas is no exception. Recently, a policymaker in our state asked the OEP to look into the research surrounding the question of raising the kindergarten entry age. This policy brief discusses the new requirements as well as the impact of these requirements on families and children in the short and long term by looking at recent changes in Arkansas law and studies concerning the effect of …

Sext Me L8ter: The Legal Conundrum Of Sexting In Schools And A Plan For Schools To Stop It, Bethany L. Arliss

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Are Food Subsidies Making Our Kids Fat? Tensions Between The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act And The Farm Bill, Melissa D. Mortazavi

Washington and Lee Law Review

On December 15, 2010, President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger- Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA)1 into law. It was hailed as a bipartisan success and a significant reform of childhood nutrition policy. Indeed, on its surface the law appears to make a significant shift away from the food paradigm of the past. However, upon closer examination, it fails to unwind the tangled connections between domestic eating habits and longstanding farm subsidies. This Article breaks new ground in several ways: First, it is one of the first essays in the emerging and underexplored field of food law, a crosssection of …

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet the Court's assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This Article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Lav School campus itself in March 2010 to examine not only whether, but how diversity affects learning. The data indicate both that there are sufficient numbers of students of color …

Student Loans In Bankruptcy And The "Undue Hardship" Exception: Who Should Foot The Bill?, Kyle L. Grant

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Districts Are Taken Over By The State, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Two types of state takeovers have been in the news this summer. The news extensively covered the state takeover of Helena-West Helena School District and Pulaski County Special School District due to fiscal issues. At their August meeting, State Board of Education members discussed amending the Academic Distress Rules in a manner that would more easily enable state takeovers on the basis of academic distress. This policy brief discusses the various classifications that might lead to a state takeover and the subsequent implications of such classifications. According to Arkansas law, namely The Omnibus Quality of Education Act of 2003, schools …

2011 Arkansas Benchmark Test Results: District By District Scores, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

One day after the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) released the results from the spring 2011 Arkansas Benchmark exams, the OEP received a call from a local constituent asking how districts in Northwest Arkansas compared to the rest of the state. Surprisingly, this type of question - often asked by educators, policymakers, researchers, parents, and concerned citizens - is not that easy to answer by simply glancing at the ADE-provided data. 1 Therefore, we put together a little policy brief to make the data more clearly understood.

Holding Schools Accountable For Their Sex-Ed Curricula, Rena M. Lindevaldsen

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the legal and policy implications that arise when a school district decides to instruct students on issues concerning same-sex attractions. As more states afford legal recognition to same-sex relationships and adopt non-discrimination codes that include sexual orientation, schools are faced with the decision of what, when, and how to teach children about same-sex attractions. Providing instruction on this divisive issue is fraught with conflict as views and beliefs on the topic are deeply-held, diverse, and often politically charged. In disputes concerning other sensitive topics, courts long have afforded schools broad discretion to implement curriculum without interference from …

Education Reform Litigation In Nevada: Is The Nevada Legislature Neglecting Its Constitutional Duties?, K Nicholas Portz

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

To Lynch A Child: Bullying And Gender Nonconformity In Our Nation's Schools, Michael J. Higdon

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Purpose And Effects: Viewpoint-Discriminatory Closure Of A Designated Public Forum, Kerry L. Monroe

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In early 2010, amidst a series of racially charged incidents on campus, the student government president at the University of California at San Diego revoked funding to all student media organizations in response to controversial speech on the student-run television station. It is well established that once the government has opened a forum, including a "metaphysical" forum constituted by government funding for private speech, it may not discriminate based on the viewpoints expressed within that forum. However, it has not been clearly established whether the government may close such a forum for a viewpoint-discriminatory purpose. This Note argues that courts …

Truth, Justice, And The Libertarian Way(S), Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

More than twenty years ago, I was commissioned to write an article – my very first scholarly article – on “the ethics of insider trading” (this was hot on the heels of the Ivan Boesky insider-trading scandal of the mid-1980s).1 After tracing philosophical debates concerning the morality of exchanges based on unequal information from Cicero and Aquinas through Henry Manne and Frank Easterbrook,2 I had to decide what I could responsibly say in a scholarly work as a matter of substantive moral theory about the practice of insider trading – and derivatively what it would be appropriate to say normatively …

Holding To A Moral Compass Against The Pull Of Profits, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Assistant Professor Eugene Tan writes that as Singapore society becomes more complex, our law schools cannot just produce good legal technicians but are challenged to produce lawyers who are innovators and can utilize the law creatively to produce effective and efficient outcomes, and solutions infused with social justice and fairness. Today, the first batch of SMU law students comprising 106 LLB and 17 Juris Doctor degree students graduates.

Schoolhouse Rock: Lessons Of Homosexual Tolerance In Keeton V. Anderson-Wiley From The Classroom To The Constitution, Billie Pritchard

Mercer Law Review

The public educational system is charged with more than the academic success of America's youth. Educators are responsible for "nurtur[ing] students social and moral development by transmitting to them an official dogma of community values." As Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley demonstrates, community values are rapidly changing to acknowledge new constructions of homosexual identity and constitutional interests relative to historically marginalized attributes. In Keeton the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia denied a preliminary injunction to a student asserting various First Amendment claims against her university for requiring her to complete remedial training for counseling gay, lesbian, bisexual, …

Due Process, Fundamental Fairness, And Judicial Deference: The Illusory Difference Between State And Private Educational Institution Disciplinary Legal Requirements, Paul Smith

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The educational process at a college or university, where students often experience new-found freedom, includes adherence to academic and behavioral standards. The institution may impose sanctions on students for breaching these standards. Prior to imposing a sanction, however, an institution must provide the student with a sufficient level of process or risk judicial invalidation of the sanction.

Courts distinguish the process due a student attending a state institution from the process due a student attending a private institution. Related to this distinction is the judicial claim that courts grant discretion to a private institution’s judgment regarding discipline for academic, …

Coordinating Loan Repayment Assistance Programs With New Federal Legislation, Philip G. Schrag, Charles Pruett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

For decades, law school administrators, faculty members, students and graduates have worried about the problem of the ever-increasing cost of attendance at the nation’s law schools, and the rapidly rising average debt of graduating law students. The problem was particularly acute for students who desired careers in public service, because starting salaries in the government and non-profit sectors failed to keep pace with the increase in educational debt of law school graduates. In response, many law schools created loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs), through which they subsidized loan repayment for some or all of their graduates who undertook public service …