Education Law

Upcoming CRP Conference at UNC

Posted on March 17, 2009
Too many acronyms? The Civil Rights Project is co-sponsoring an upcoming conference with the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights and the University of Georgia Education Policy and Evaluation Center on the future of desegregation. Here's the title of the conference: Looking to the Future: Legal and Policy Options for Racially Integrated Education in the South and the Nation Here is the brochure...

Should Schools Publish the News?

Posted on March 15, 2009
If you haven't noticed, lately newspapers have been hitting the floor like birds at Chernobyl.  The Rocky Mountain News ... done. Seattle Post-Intelligencer & Detroit Free Press... online only. The New York Times ... massive layoffs. Tribune Company & Philadelphia Newspapers ...

What happens when ...

Posted on March 14, 2009
the kids don't come back. It's all just junk - or worse than that, pollution. This reminds me of a recent book I read, The World Without Us. Never thought an American public school would be reminding me of this book, but check out this amazing photoessay on permanently closed Detroit Public Schools...

Weekend Snippets - March, 2009: Gender Segregation

Posted on March 14, 2009
Some snippets for your weekend perusal:  Anti-Bullying Debate in North Carolina and Oregon. Popular, popular, popular.  Here in Kentucky, if the legislators can negotiate it in confernece, it looks like we may get a new testing package...

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Why Public Schools Exist

Posted on March 12, 2009
This little recession of ours is a good reminder of why public schools exist. They don't send kids home when the bill is not paid, like private schools do. So far this year, 7 percent of children enrolled in privates have transferred back over to publics, according to the latest Time Magazine...

The Fine Line of Teacher Regulation (Because They Do Dumb Things)

Posted on March 11, 2009
I think probably the thing I post most about on this blog is teachers doing dumb things. These stories are just always going to catch headlines. For instance, just this week we have:  Teachers at a mental health facility building a "fight club" where students were allowed to fight one another while teachers watched...

Showing on Education, But Not Telling

Posted on March 10, 2009
President Obama today is going to devote a little time to education. I say a little because this is just for show - nothing is actually happening, don't worry.  But, this will probably advance the national standards debate a little further because it seems he plans to hint at that in the speech...

A Professional School of Education?

Posted on March 09, 2009
Sorry, a little off topic today, but I have spent the better part of the last week in redesign meetings here at the University of Kentucky. We are (re)designing our teacher leadership Master's, our principalship post-master's and our Ed.D. (and Ed.S. and instructional supervisor, etc...

Sex in the Student Paper

Posted on March 06, 2009
What else are high-school kids going to write about, right? So, no, student's as journalists don't have a right to, like, write about whatever they want. They are students ... not journalists (and, heads up Grady, journalists don't either because they work for companies like News Corp...

A Twitter Story

Posted on March 05, 2009

A Little Justice O'Connor with Lunch

Posted on March 05, 2009

Edjurist TV: Episode 2 - Podcast with Dr. Jesulon Gibbs on Doninger v. Niehoff and Off-Campus Student Speech

Posted on March 05, 2009

The Public Pension Problem

Posted on March 04, 2009

Weekend Snippets - What's In A Name

Posted on March 01, 2009

AEI Judicial Involvment in Education Forum Online

Posted on February 26, 2009
The guy that hired me, now the President of NCATE, presented on reforming university-based education schools today at the American Enterprise Institute. But, while I was at the site, I thought I would check if they ever posted their video of their summit on 50 years of judicial involvment in education...

Slate's Education Cartoons Are Back

Posted on February 26, 2009

Sleeper Issue

Posted on February 25, 2009
Mark Halprin said this in summation of the Presiden't speech last night, among other things: Education is the sleeper issue of this administration. I am very much uncertain what role, if any, education will play in this administration. Education was not a central componet of the Obama campaign...

Are there too many laws in education?

Posted on February 23, 2009
Megan McArdle at The Atlantic reminded me of a topic I have been wanting to come back to ... the amount of law in education. At ELA this year, we had Philip K. Howard give a general session on his book Life Without Lawyers, the general premise of which is that there is too much law (and relatedly too many lawyers) in society and that we would all be better off if we generally reduced the amount of rules...

Weekend Snippets - Now I Get It

Posted on February 21, 2009
Built a home office this weekend, so hopefully I can get a lot more weekend work done, including the snippets. Let's go ... Corruption like this with these massive teacher pension systems always scares me. Time to talk tuition hikes again. It will be interesting to see what the bad economy does to them...

Facebook is Public ... and Permanent

Posted on February 20, 2009
This is a great read for any of you Facebook defenders out there (yes, I am talking to you Miguel). Not only is Facebook public information, which I have said before. And, not only do I recommend against teacher's using Facebook for practical purposes, which I have been criticized for (in a friendly way)...

Stafford v. Redding: Thoughts & Resources

Posted on February 17, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted cert. in the case of Stafford v. Redding. This is the Savana Redding strip search case that came out of Arizona a couple of years ago and I have been following along with here at the blog. Readers know I took a personal interest in this case as not only did I disagree with the opinion, but Savana also took the time to comment on the blog, which I thought was nice...

National Standards ... Momentum is Growing

Posted on February 16, 2009
When CCSSO started making rumblings last year about national academic standards, I think everyone was surprised, but I am not sure anyone thought it had a realistic chance of getting into this round of reauthorization. Well, apparently no one told Arne Duncan, who apparently is a pretty big fan of national standards...

AERA Law and Education SIG Presentations

Posted on February 13, 2009
Below is a table with a list of the AERA Law and Education SIG presentations for the upcoming AERA meeting in April. The meeting is in San Antonio and the SIG activities are grouped around Monday and Tuesday the 13th and 14th, so if you are thinking of coming, it might be possible to make it a short(er) trip...

Declining Assessments

Posted on February 12, 2009
Here's a problem that is coming down the pike ... declining assessment values on homes. I have been meeting with a lot of superintendents lately with a colleague and a topic that has come up is the potential for declining home values to blow up school budgets...

The Whitehouse is Liveblogging?

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Whitehouse liveblogged the President's event in Florida today. Yeah, not kidding. Liveblogging from the Whitehouse. Not some reporter at the Whitehouse. The Whitehouse itself. The Government. Your Government is liveblogging now. Go ahead. Check it out...

Edjurist TV: Episode 1 - Podcast with Dr. Gina Umpstead on The Implications of Pontiac v. Spellings.

Posted on February 09, 2009
Today we are debuting a new feature, Edjurist TV. The plan here is to record interviews of some of the movers and shakers in the education law community, giving them an opportunity to talk about their area of expertise. Most of the videos will be both audio and video, but this first one is audio only (i...

Weekend Snippets: What Should I Do With the Snippets?

Posted on February 08, 2009
I am trying to figure out what to do with the snippets, as my Friday's are becoming increasingly packed with meetings. I got a few ideas, but I would like to hear from all of you about what you think I should do. Whether you prefer the snippets on Friday or some other day, or not at all...

The Oregon Supreme Court's Interesting Education Finance Ruling

Posted on February 06, 2009
Last month, the Oregon Supreme Court came down with its first opinion addressing a state constitutional challenge to its education finance plan asserting theories of inadequate spending. The slip opinion is here. The opinion is interesting for at least three reasons; First, it was the first definitive opinion from a highest state court in an adequacy case where the Court did not give any independent consideration to separation of powers concerns...

Is Education in the Crosshairs?

Posted on February 05, 2009
Talkingpointsmemo.com has education in the crosshairs of Senators working on the Stimulus Package: The biggest hit is on education spending. A few examples of the recommended cuts ... $24.786 Billion on "State Stabilization Money" $15 Billion for "State Incentive Grants" $6...

Justice Ginsburg Has Cancer

Posted on February 05, 2009
Always hate to see this happen to Supreme Court justices - but it is a good reminder that even the most powerful among us are still human. We lawyers get so attached to our Supreme Court justices, trying to predict their thought patterns and whatnot, that it always is a bit of a shock when human things happen to them...

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