Education Law

Congrats to Dr. Bauries (and UK)

Posted on August 10, 2009
Just got word from Scott, I mean Dr. Bauries, that his dissertation has been successfully defended. He is a newly minted Ph.D. from the University of Florida Department of Educational Administration and Policy with Dr. Craig Wood as his chair - one of the nation's leading school finance experts...

SSRN--A valuable resource, but is it compatible with exclusivity?

Posted on July 31, 2009
Many of our readers may not be aware of this resource, but in the world of legal academia, we have become familiar with a service called the Social Science Research Network, or SSRN.  The SSRN site is essentially a clearing house of scholarship (abstracts, working papers, accepted papers, and finished articles with publisher permission) in all areas having to do with social science...

Change Blogging - Becker Style

Posted on July 28, 2009
Jon Becker, the law/tech. prof. at Virginia Commonwealth, is guestblogging this week at Change.org's education blog, normally run by Clay Burell. The subject for the week is segregation issues, and you can see his first, outstanding, post here. Jon plans for some "courageous conversations" this week, so go check it out.

Edjurist TV Episode 6: Kentucky School Finance History

Posted on July 21, 2009
I was asked to present this morning on the history of Kentucky School Finance, the Rose v. Council for Better Education case, and the Kentucky Education Refom Act here at UK. So, below is the presentation in Episode 6 of Edjurist TV. It is narration over a Prezi...

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More Data Needed: State Special Education Due Process Systems

Posted on July 19, 2009
The latest 50 state (even then it was only 44 state) data on special education due process systems is from 2001. Specifically, I wanted to know the number of states running two-tier due process systems (and maybe even make a pretty map for the blog). But, no data...

AERA Law and Ed. SIG Open for More Presentations

Posted on July 17, 2009
Just talked with the Law and Education SIG program chair and she confirmed that there is a lot more room in our program for more proposals. So, with the week extension, I am recommending that you should submit something to our SIG - or, alternatively, you should tell your graduate student friends to submit (they could win an award!).

AERA Proposal Deadline Extended

Posted on July 15, 2009
For those of our readers working furiously to finish a presentation proposal by 11:59 P.S.T. tonight for the 2010 AERA Annual Meeting in Denver, according to the AERA website, you now have until July 22, 2009 (one week from today).  Procrastinators (like me) rejoice! 

Indiana's School Finance Adequacy Ruling

Posted on July 15, 2009
About a month ago, the Indiana Supreme Court handed down its decision in that state's education finance adequacy litigation.  The opinion is here.  In the case (Bonner v. Daniels), the plaintiffs claimed, in the alternative, (1) that the state constitution's Education Clause imposed a duty on the legislature to provide a certain level of quality education, and that this duty was not fulfilled by the current system; (2) that the state constitution established a fundamental right to education, and that this right was abridged by the current system; and (3) that the current system violated Indiana's Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause (the state's version of the Equal Protection Clause) due to unequal expenditures...

Good analysis of Richerson and Blogging in the Workplace

Posted on July 14, 2009
Check out Ellen Simon's great analysis of the recent Richerson case, which I wrote about here, and general issues with blogging in the workplace. since the law is quite undeveloped and the waters uncharted in this area, both employers and employees need to use common sense and tread carefully...

Leadership Day 09: Ignorance is Legally Unacceptable

Posted on July 12, 2009
It's Leadership Day 09, details here. My post is simple. Ignorance of student used technology is legally unacceptable.  On Thursday I ran a manifestation determination simulation in my special education class. The fact pattern had a student threatening a teacher and school via twitter (see threat here)...

AERA Deadline this Wednesday

Posted on July 11, 2009
The AERA deadline for proposals is this Wednesday, July 15. AERA is in Denver next year, which should be fun. Please submit to the Law and Education Special Interest Group.

Detroit Inches Closer to Bankruptcy

Posted on July 09, 2009
Detroit Public Schools overseer is meeting with an ex-bankruptcy judge today to talk it over. My Chapter 9 background here. Was hoping we didn't need to use that.  H/T Linda704 via Twitter

"National" Standards--Part III

Posted on July 09, 2009
Okay, now it seems that we MAY get a "national" assessment to go along with our "national" standards.  According to this article in Education Week, it appears that the Department of Education has "set aside" up to $350 million dollars that is apparently earmarked to assist the states in developing "common assessments" (though talk is indeed cheap in this context)...

Because Boys Hunt and Girls Get Married?

Posted on July 08, 2009
One of the really disturbing trends of late is the movement back toward segregated schooling by gender, thanks to loosening of regulations by the Bush administration, which I have said before is probably unconstitutional. So, I am happy to report, thanks to a tip from Kevin Welner, that the ACLU of Alabama was effective in ridding 10 school districts of single-sex classes...

"National" Standards Part II

Posted on July 08, 2009
Recently, I noted that a new move is afoot to develop "national" (i.e., NOT federal) standards for high school reading and math. Here in this second post on the topic, I consider more deeply the question of accountability. Our readers no doubt are aware that we have had "national" standards in language arts, math, and at least five other subjects for years...

Outliers = Dangerous

Posted on July 07, 2009
I planned to pen some long articulate criticism of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, but I'll leave that to my good friend Jon Becker, since we seem to be pretty much on the same page here. My bottom line, as I tweeted, is that this book is a mile wide and an inch deep and, as such, is really dangerous...

Careful with those files ...

Posted on July 06, 2009
The digital age makes everything so much easier - but that can lead to really bad mistakes. Like this teacher in Elk Grove Unified Sch. Dist. (same one as in the Pledge case) that included 6 seconds of her sex life on a DVD sent home with kids. Here is CNN video via Scott McLeod...

My Favorite Holiday

Posted on July 04, 2009
Just wishing everyone a spectacular July 4. It's pouring down rain right now here in Illinois, but it doesn't spoil my enthusiasm at all. I got a little fishing planned for later today and fireworks tonight. On this July 4, everyone should remember our founding fathers and present day soldiers, but give a little time to contemplate over our educational founding fathers as well and the events that shaped our particularly American system of education...

Bankrupt Schools - Implications

Posted on July 02, 2009
Until this year, I have never really heard of a school district going bankrupt. It's an extremely rare event. But, Detroit may be left no other option and several schools in California (2) are telling the state they simply cannot pay their bills anymore...

Discrimination is Delicate - Leave This One to Lawyers

Posted on June 30, 2009
Today we got the ruling from the Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano - the case that people only really care about because the Supreme Court overturned the Second Circuit panel on which nominee J. Sonia Sotomayor sat. The point I want to make is not the one that you will see splashed all over the papers or cable news in the coming months, but instead I want to use this opportunity to reiterate that discrimination is an extremely delicate topic - and really, one best dealt with by lawyers...

ELA's Perspective

Posted on June 30, 2009
This is encouraging from ELA. Administrator, Attorney and Professor perspective on Forest Grove. Ditto for Safford v. Redding.

A Symbolic End to Bush Era Symbolism

Posted on June 30, 2009
Something about this just makes me feel good inside and I thought I would share: I hated those damn schoolhouses. Nothing says "we're a joke over here" like fabricating symbolism and the Bush Administration was really good at such blatent fabrications...

Do Student Dislike Education Law Classes? Evidence from Twitter

Posted on June 30, 2009
Playing around with Twitter tonight. Signed up even (you can follow me at edjurist and/or if you are reading this I should probably be following you, so please tell me you handle in way or another). Anyway, ran a search for "education law" and "school law" and this is what I got (representative)...

Do Students Dislike Education Law Classes? Evidence from Twitter

Posted on June 30, 2009
Playing around with Twitter tonight. Signed up even (you can follow me at edjurist and/or if you are reading this I should probably be following you, so please tell me you handle in way or another). Anyway, ran a search for "education law" and "school law" and this is what I got (representative)...

Edjurist TV Episode 5: Initial Thoughts on Safford Unified School District v. Redding

Posted on June 25, 2009
The Redding case is out today (so is Horne v. Flores, but I'll address that later). Basically, my thoughts on Redding are ... Wahoo ... as I articule in Episode 5. Here are some other links. MSNBC reporting. School Law Blog ASCD Inservice And here are all my previous posts: Thoughts and Resources...

Board Certification for Education Lawyers in Florida

Posted on June 24, 2009
Yesterday, I received the following message from the Florida Bar (of which I am a member).  It announces the approval of board certification procedures for education law and adoption law.  For those unfamiliar, board certification is a designation that a lawyer may achieve only after several years of successful and ethical practice in the field...

Interesting Short Article on Parents Involved

Posted on June 24, 2009
A good deal of scholarship has been published in the legal and educational communities since the Supreme Court decided the Parents Involved case. In that case, the Court struck down the student assignment systems of Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky on Equal Protection grounds...

The Rubber Room Balloon

Posted on June 23, 2009
Unbelieveable, really. 700 teachers in New York sitting in rubber rooms waiting on hearings, costing the city an estimated 65 million dollars a year. The issue: ...because their cases are heard by 23 arbitrators who work only five days a month, stints of two or three years in a rubber room are common, and some teachers have been there for five or six...

Blogging Teacher Correctly Demoted

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Ninth Circuit has held in Richerson v. Beckon that a teacher who uses her blog to post comments about other employees can have adverse employment consequences taken against her. The teacher, an instructional coach and curriculum specialist, published posts on her personal blog that talked about issues that arose at work...

Learning About Roberts and Alito: Forest Grove School District v. T.A.

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Supreme Court released Forest Grove Sch. Dist. v. T. A. today and in it found for the parents that their private school tuition should be reimbursed by the public school, even though the public school never made an attempt to provide FAPE in the first place...

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