Education Law Commons^™

Masks, Mayhem & The Future Of Disability Rights In Schools, Claire Raj, Crystal Grant

Faculty Scholarship

Disability rights took center stage in the recent battles over universal mask mandates in public schools. Pro-mask advocates argued that universal mask policies were necessary to ensure equal access to education under two different federal disability statutes, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Opponents argued universal masking was an infringement on personal liberty and uncalled for by either law. Courts responded with a great deal of confusion that resulted in disparate legal outcomes for cases with essentially the same facts. This confusion, however, is not new—it is rooted in decades of doctrinally …

In Pursuit Of Sustainable Educational Development: The Philippines And The English Dilemma, Rosemary C. Salomone

Faculty Publications

The English language poses a dilemma in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially for education in countries with high multilingualism, high poverty and unequal schooling, such as the Philippines. This chapter considers Goal 1 (reducing poverty), Goal 4 (promoting educational quality) and Goal 10 (reducing inequalities) in relation to what has become an array of executive orders, regulations and laws that have shifted in the political winds, even as the judiciary has tried to navigate a measured course. It underscores how the primacy of English in the national consciousness, tied to global markets, undercuts multilingual policies based in …

Crt Forward: Tracking The Attack On Critical Race Theory, Taifha Natalee Alexander, Latoya Baldwin Clark, Kyle Reinhard, Noah Zatz

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an interdisciplinary practice and approach to understanding the foundations and maintenance of race and racial subordination in the legal system throughout history. Since its genesis in United States law schools in the mid-1980s, CRT has explored how racial, and other, hierarchies have persisted despite advancements in racial justice made during times like the Reconstruction and Civil Rights eras. CRT contests many of the standard assumptions underlying traditional civil rights discourse, including that the legal system is a neutral apparatus disconnected from the legacy of racial subordination in the United States. Since its inception, CRT …

A Quarter Century Of Challenges And Progress In Education, And An Agenda For The Next Quarter Century, Albert H. Kauffman

Faculty Articles

As a native Texan who attended intentionally segregated Texas public schools, then an effectively segregated Texas public law school, litigated many cases against discrimination in Texas education, and now teaches Texas education law, I have what I think to be informed opinions on where we have been, where we are going, and what we should do next. I will briefly describe our sad history of discrimination in segregation, school finance, testing, higher education, and lack of responsiveness to newer issues in education at all levels. I will then summarize some of our ongoing challenges and some possible approaches that I …

Technology Integration In Higher Education And Student Privacy Beyond Learning Environments -- A Comparison Of The Uk And Us Perspective, Iria Giuffrida, Alex Hall

Faculty Publications

Technology integration in higher education (HE) has brought immense innovation. While research is investigating the benefits of leveraging, through learning analytics, the data created by the greater presence of technology in HE, it is also analysing the privacy implications of vast universes of data now at the fingertips of HE administrators. This paper argues that student privacy challenges linked to technology integration occur not only within but also beyond learning environments, namely at the enterprise level. By analysing the UK and US legal frameworks surrounding how HE institutions respond to parents demanding disclosure of their adult children's personal data in …

Connecting The Dots: Immigration Policy And Access To Higher Education For Refugees In France, Isabella Amaro Varas

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Since 2016, the increasing number of refugees in Europe accelerated the development of national and regional policies to determine their rights and access to resources. Against this backdrop, the strong politicization of migration, and the recent financial crises, refugees' access to welfare has “become a key area of concern across European democracies” (Lafleur et al. 2020). Considering public education programs as a pillar of social policy agendas in this region, this study examines French policy in order to answer the following questions: How do French immigration and education policies converge to determine refugees’ access to higher education in France? What …

Inclusion Of Visually Impaired And Deaf Students In Kenya: A Call For Action, Edwin O. Abuya, Jane W. Githinji

Washington International Law Journal

Drawing on field data, this Article reviews the experiences of visually impaired and deaf students (VIDS) in select universities in Kenya. The paper argues that, unlike able bodied students, these learners face discrimination in these institutions. The Article focuses on three spaces where VIDS are excluded: the admission process, the learning, and the examination environments. To counter the unfair treatment, the paper proposes three solutions that VIDS and stakeholders should consider. These are consistent with legal requirements on access to education by VIDS. Firstly, course instructors should be robustly engaged with. Further, universities should provide adequate and timely information should …

The Magic Of Fintech? Insights For A Regulatory Agenda From Analyzing Student Loan Complaints Filed With The Cfpb, Matthew Adam Bruckner, Christopher J. Ryan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

This Article looks at consumer complaints about student loan lenders and servicers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) consumer complaint database. Using a novel dataset drawn from 30,678 complaints filed against 212 student loan companies, we analyze consumers’ subjective views about whether traditional or fintech student loan lenders and servicers provide a better customer experience. Overall, we find that consumers initiate far fewer complaints against fintech lenders than traditional lenders. But we find that fintech lenders are 28 times more likely than traditional lenders to receive complaints for making confusing or misleading advertisements. Our data also show that complaints …

Tenure In New York, Matthew W. Finkin

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Education Administration In Federal Indian Law: Learning From A Colonial Project Turned Tool Of Liberation, Ariel Liberman, Douglas L. Waters Jr.

American Indian Law Journal

While statistics tend to focus on the difficulties facing tribal education, this article endeavors to look at the matter with fresh eyes. The federal administrative paradigm governing tribal schools has gone from a tool of cultural genocide to a mechanism for empowerment. A survey of recent governmental reforms demonstrates an embrace of the diversity of Indigenous communities, an interest in empowering students through learning, and an acknowledgement of a history of active disenfranchisement. This is ever-evolving federal-tribal relationship shows the administrative state’s capacity for dealing with greatly nuanced community needs and for tailor-making reforms to achieve concrete goals, even if …

The Merit Of Inclusion: A Policy Review Examining The Convergence Of Special Education And Inclusions Policies With Compensatory Medicaid Policies In The Wake Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Corbyn Baggett

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as a global pandemic. This global issue compelled governments to announce careful virus containing policies in order to prevent further spread and control of the disease. Although it has been proven that measures like social isolation could aid in scaling the spread of illness, the resulting extended school closures that occurred in response to an increased number of COVID-19 outbreaks posed significant challenges for all students, but especially those students with special needs. The unpredictable nature of COVID-19 at the outset of the pandemic …

Abusing Discretion: The Battle For Childhood In Schools, Hannah Dodson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

For too many children the schoolhouse doors become a point of entry into the criminal justice system. Children of color are the most likely to suffer from this phenomenon. The presence of policing in schools is a key contributor to this “school-to-prison pipeline.” This Note argues that broad, discretionary mandates for school resource officers (SROs) promote biased law enforcement that impacts Black girls in different and specific ways. I contend that SRO mandates can be effectively limited by strategically bolstering community organizing efforts with impact litigation.

Why A New Deal Must Address The Readability Of U.S. Consumer Contracts, Michael L. Rustad

Cardozo Law Review

United States companies are increasingly drafting consumer contracts that are complex and unreadable, thus making it difficult for many Americans to comprehend terms of use that apply to goods and services. Many U.S. companies are creating terms of use that are, in effect, rights-foreclosure schemes. Many consumer agreements cap damages at a nominal amount, disclaim all warranties, limit remedies, and impose mandatory arbitration clauses and class action waivers. U.S. courts enforce these unfair mass-market contracts with few exceptions. My proposal for a New Deal for Consumer Contracts, as described in this Article, would impose a more exacting readability standard, enforcing …

Indoctrination By Elimination: Why Banning Critical Race Theory In Public Schools Is Unconstitutional, Emma Postel

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note argues that Texas public school students’ First Amendment Rights have been violated by the passage of Senate Bill 3 (SB 3), which bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K–12 public schools. The First Amendment is violated here because (1) students have a First Amendment right to speech, and this law bans protected speech; (2) students have a right to receive information, and this ban prevents them from receiving information; and (3) schools are meant to be the marketplace of ideas for students and banning CRT amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. This Note does not suggest …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

It Starts And Ends With The Schools: Using Strict Idea Enforcement To Sunder The School-To-Prison-Pipeline For Special Education Students, Savannah L. Murphy

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can't Really Teach: Crt Bans Impose Upon Teachers' First Amendment Pedagogical Rights, Mary L. Krebs

Vanderbilt Law Review

The jurisprudence governing K-12 teachers’ speech protection has been a convoluted hodgepodge of caselaw since the 1960s when the Supreme Court established that teachers retain at least some First Amendment protection as public educators. Now, as new so-called Critical Race Theory bans prohibit an array of hot button topics in the classroom, K-12 teachers must either preemptively censor themselves or risk running afoul of these vague bans with indeterminate legal protection. This Note proposes an elucidation of K-12 teachers’ free speech rights via a two-part test to assess the reasonability of instructional speech. Rather than analogizing K-12 teacher speech to …

Reshaping College Athlete Sports Betting Education, Becky Harris, John T. Holden

BYU Law Review

Legal sports wagering has been rapidly expanding across the United States since 2018. In the wake of the Supreme Court's Murphy decision, more than twenty five states have legalized sports betting and billions of dollars have followed the cascades of legalization. As the legal market continues to grow, professional sports leagues have been quick to embrace the regulated expansion, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has not changed their steadfast opposition. Despite the NCAA's vehement opposition, the organization has seemed to gain little traction in getting states to either wholly exclude wagering on collegiate sports or getting the federal …

Separate And Still Unequal: How Neighborhood Zoning Laws Keep U.S. Schools Segregated, Glynnis Hagins

The Journal of Law and Education

No abstract provided.

Parent, Child And State: Regulation In A New Era Of Homeschooling, Lawson B. Hamilton

The Journal of Law and Education

No abstract provided.