Volume 44, Issue 2

Courts have always been the final repository of hope for parents and students who feel that their schools are consigning them to second-class citizenship. In the United States, no modern educational injustice has a longer or more abusive history than racial segregation, and its effective redress has proven all but impossible without occasional judicial intervention.…

In Bibb County, Georgia, home to the city of Macon, a racial dividing line runs through the schools. Like many places in this part of the South, most of the population is black. That is reflected in the education system: in the countywide school district, 73 percent of children are black, while only 19 percent…

Where have you gone, Justice KennedyOur nation turns its lonely eyes to you . . .What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?Justice K has left and gone away,Hey hey hey, hey hey hey. Brown v. Board of Education: These cases were decided on May 17, 1954. The opinions of that date, declaring the fundamental principle that…

State constitutional Blaine Amendments, which prohibit the expenditure of state funds on religious educational institutions, have for decades impeded educational choice programs This may be changing. The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer opened the door for school choice programs to survive challenge under state Blaine Amendments. Both the majority opinion…

The United States Supreme Court recently issued an opinion, Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, on the interplay between special education and disability discrimination law. The decision determines when claims under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) must be exhausted in special education administrative…

This article considers whether the law can or should protect speech on private college and university campuses. The easy answer is “yes.” After all, both public and private institutions are places of learning and inquiry. Therefore, at first, it might make sense for First Amendment-type protections to apply across the board—if not under the United…

For several decades, Minnesota commissions, task forces, and advocacy groups have warned that our education system has been failing to meet twenty-first century challenges for students who come to school with educational disadvantages. Three constitutional challenges have been made to Minnesota’s education system, though each was founded on an inadequate theory. Although three constitutional challenges…