Education Law

Michigan Supreme Court sides with teacher safety in student assault cases

Posted on August 09, 2010
On July 31, 2010 the Michigan Supreme Court in Lansing Schools Education Association v. Lansing Board of Education addressed an important safety issue for educators.  Michigan law requires that students who physically assault an educator be expelled...

Rubber ... meet Road: Leadership Day 2010

Posted on July 30, 2010
It's leadership day again, something that is quickly becoming a CASTLE tradition. My previous leadership day posts are here and here. This year, I thought I would keep it simple and just reflect on a year's worth of statewide reform efforts here in Kentucky and some lessons learned and challenges ahead...

A P20 Presentation to KASA with Dean Mary John O'Hair

Posted on July 26, 2010
Dean O'Hair and I presented on P20 to the Kentucky Association of School Administrators last Thursday at the Galt House in Louisville. As always, I recorded it for later viewing and, remember, you can subscribe to all my lectures on my iTunes channel...

Educational Law Information Online - A Presentation to KSBA

Posted on July 20, 2010
Last week I presented to the Kentucky School Board's Association, Council of School Attorney's here in Lexington. I was asked to present on online resources for both educational attorneys and administrators. Below is the presentation that I gave (rerecorded after the session because of technical difficulties)...

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Law v. Lore in Teacher Tenure

Posted on July 15, 2010
Perry Zirkel filled in for Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet, a couple days ago and wrote a provocative post about the law v. lore in teacher tenure. Perry (who I love is jumping on blogging - what a perfect medium for him) makes some great points that the law of teacher tenure is not as ironclad against dismissing teachers as most educators assume...

Summer Break

Posted on July 13, 2010
So ... clearly we are on a bit of a summer break here at the Edjurist (well, for me a twins break, anyway). Its been a couple years since the blog has had a vacation, so hopefully you'll be forgiving. We'll be back in full this fall and sporadically in between...

98...99...? - Will you join ELA's Facebook Page?

Posted on June 17, 2010
ELA's facebook page is at 99 members as I write this. We want to blow past the century mark, so please consider clicking on the follow button (don't worry, ELA doesn't pepper your wall with posts everyday). And, while you are there, be sure to check out Cate's latest video announcing details about the Vancouver conference...

for-profit colleges in the news

Posted on June 11, 2010
Some recent stories on for-profit colleges caught my attention and made me think about how states and the federal government increasingly have some important regulatory decisions to make regarding this sector.  The first story involves proposed rules seeking to address concerns over student loan debt levels and default rates of those enrolled in for-profit schools...

Value-Added Evaluation and Dismissal of Teachers: Two Cents from an Employment Lawyer

Posted on June 02, 2010
Both our Justin and the very justifiably well-respected school finance economist Bruce Baker have weighed in from different, and equally enlightening, perspectives as to the legal problems (read: certain lawsuits) that would result from instituting systemic value-added assessment-based teacher dismissals and demotions (including de-tenuring tenured teachers)...

Legal Issues with Test Score Based Teacher Evaluation: A Response to Bruce Baker

Posted on June 02, 2010
Bruce Baker, a professor at Rutgers and one of the best educational statisticians in the country, wrote a fascinating post today about potential legal issues arising from the movement to base teacher evaluations on gains on student assessments...

Just how stupid ...

Posted on May 31, 2010
Reading a ton of cases this weekend (finishing up a Yearbook chapter that is overdue) and I am once again struck by a simple question ... as a teacher, just how stupid do you have to be to lose a lawsuit? And, I think, the answer is pretty damn stupid...

Michigan's New Teacher Retirement Law

Posted on May 26, 2010
Earlier this month the Michigan Legislature passed a new law affecting Michigan's retirement system for teachers.  The new law makes three significant changes: (1) offers an incentive for teachers who retire by September 1, (2) requires teachers to start contributing 3% of their salary into a retiree health plan and (3) creates a hybrid defined benefit and defined contribution plan for new school employees (i...

New School Finance Suit in California

Posted on May 21, 2010
This week, a coalition of parents, students, school districts, and community groups filed a lawsuit challenging California's school finance system as violative of the state constitution's education article.  The case is styled Robles-Wong v. California...

Va. Atty. General Not A Believer In Global Warming But Is Hot Under The Collar

Posted on May 16, 2010
The Attorney General of Virginia, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, is seeking documents through a civil subpoena from the University of Virginia (UVA) related to the work of a former professor at the institution, Michael Mann, who is now employed at Penn State...

The Kagan Nomination ... Discuss

Posted on May 11, 2010
Thought I would open up some space for discussion in the comments amongst us educational law types on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Since she doesn't have a prior judicial record, it's hard to argue the merits from past cases, so please free form it and just give initial opinions or analysis...

Education "Rights"

Posted on May 04, 2010
Following up on Daniel's recent post on fundamental rights to education, I hereby issue a shameless plug for my most recent piece of scholarship, which is forthcoming in the George Mason Law Review.  In it, I assess the conceptions of individual rights and legislative powers employed in both state and federal courts in constitutional cases, focusing on school finance litigation in the state courts...

School of One - How does it work legally?

Posted on April 29, 2010
As we start to consider a lot of different models of education, one that is getting a lot of play is the NYC School of One initiative. I have had superintendents bring it up to me and it is getting attention in the blogosphere. Here is their overview video: Program Overview from NYCDOE Teacher Development on Vimeo...

AERA Conference in Denver

Posted on April 27, 2010
If any are you going to the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Dever later this week, I want to let you know about the Law & Education SIG sessions. This is where you will be guaranteed to hear about education law issues. Plus, you will be able to meet other people interested in these topics...

Babies and Update

Posted on April 16, 2010
Okay, been a while since I wrote here. Sorry. But, I have a good excuse (or at least some excuse, probably not a good one).  MY WIFE AND I HAD TWINS!!! I'm so proud of them and they are just fabulous little kids. They are small (they were pretty early), and they will spend a while in the hospital...

Education as a Fundamental Right?

Posted on April 15, 2010
Last week, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change's annual conference, which was on education this year.  My panel was entitled 'May it Please the Court: Legal Challenges and Remedies to Address Deficiencies in Public Education...

Columbine

Posted on April 15, 2010
I had the chance to visit with Dave Cullen the author of the New York Times Bestseller Columbine who was visiting campus to speak about his book. He spent ten years investigating the story of the April 20, 1999 school massacre. The book evolved from his experience as a journalist who was on the scene within the first hour of the tragedy...

School Funding: Where Does Your State Rank?

Posted on March 25, 2010
Education Week's "Quality Counts" publication includes, every year, a chart "grading" the nation's school systems based on several funding factors, including total spending, weighted spending, and equality in resource distribution.  The chart is here...

Lab Gab: My New Show

Posted on March 25, 2010
Well, amongst friends back here at the blog, I'm happy to release my new show, Lab Gab. Okay, yes, dorky title but seriously, got a better idea? (And, seriously, I actually am a dork.) It's hard coming up with the name of shows. At least it is more original than what I did here at the blog, EdjuristTV...

The Long-Awaited Connecticut School Finance Decision

Posted on March 24, 2010
I'll have more to say on this later, but for those of you who remember that the Connecticut Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the state's school finance adequacy case nearly two years ago, the court issued its decision Monday.  In Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, Inc...

The Quick Death of Paper Academic Journals?

Posted on March 23, 2010
Received word today that we are considering cutting subscriptions of around 50 education journals. Since Kentucky is still in a relatively moderate financial position, I have to imagine that if we are cutting library budgets, most other states are as well...

This Space for Sale - Captive Audience Included

Posted on March 19, 2010
Today there is an AP story out about advertising on school buses to help schools make up budget deficits.  Washington lawmakers considered the idea of school bus advertising this year, and the concept is also being tossed around in Ohio, New Jersey and Utah...

Edjurist TV: 2009 Student Expression Cases

Posted on March 18, 2010
It's been a while since I have posted an episode of Edjurist TV, so I was happy to get back behind the camera. Today, I recap the 2009 student expression cases in the United States that I reviewed for the 2010 Yearbook of Education Law, available at ELA...

Setback for Socioeconomic Diversity Plans

Posted on March 16, 2010
Socioeconomic integration, which for some time was positioned as a race-neutral option that could achieve some level of school diversity without triggering strict judicial scrutiny, took a significant hit a couple weeks ago.  In Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina – one of the largest district to utilize an assignment plan aimed at socioeconomic integration – the school board voted 5-4 to abandon the plan in favor of a neighborhood schools assignment plan...

Michigan education summit

Posted on March 10, 2010
I attended the Education Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Center for Michigan this morning. It was very interesting. There were three panels of speakers to discuss the main issues facing Pre-K Education, K-12 Education, and Higher Education in Michigan...

So you missed RttT? A Pep Talk

Posted on March 04, 2010
So, just announced minutes ago were the finalists for Race to the Top (announced on Twitter by @EdPressSec). Here's Arne: So, Kentucky (surprisingly I think) is in. I started writing this post 1/2 hour before the announcement thinking Kentucky would be out and I would need to sooth some feelings around here...

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