About David Alexander’s accomplishments in education law and outstanding service
David attended his first NCPEA Conference in 1977 at the University of Oregon with his wife and
children, and gave his first conference paper at NCPEA in 1980. He has given papers at NCPEA in 1997,
1999, 2011, 2012. He attended the 2013 conference in New Jersey and gave three author book
presentations, and three break-out presentation sessions. His involvement with NCPEA spans 36 years.
His work has been as a professor who has attended NCPEA conferences and as a presenter on NCPEA
programs. He has served as President of the Education Law Association (2006-07) and later as a
member of the Board of Advisors of the National Education Finance Conference in 2011. He has
received numerous awards of recognition for distinguished service to education including those from
the Virginia Association of School Business Officials, and from the School of Education at Virginia Tech
for International Outreach work.
Dr. Alexander served as a Policy Reviewer for NCPEA in 2012. He served on the Edgar Morphet
Dissertation Committee in 1998-99 and on the Program Committee, 1999-2000. He co-authored with
Dick Salmon the NCPEA Publication, “Taking the Mystery out of Virginia School Finance.” In addition, he
has rendered services to the American Indian Policy Review Commission, Congress of the United States;
the National Indian Education Association; the West Virginia and Arkansas Legislatures; the Institute for
Educational Finance; the Association of School Business Officials International; the National School
Boards Association; the Appalachia Educational Laboratory; the Economic Research Institute; Institute
for Educational Finance; the State Departments of Education of Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. He was
awarded the Marion A. McGhehey Award in 2007 from the Education Law Association in recognition of
outstanding service in the field of education law.
Dr. Alexander’s contributions are extensive and international in scope. He has worked in China and
South Africa. He was co-director of the 18th Educational Leadership Conference in China in 2012. He is a
member of the Australian-New Zealand Law Association, the South African Education Law Association
and has served as law editor of the Journal of Educational Finance since 1975. He is the co-author of
eight books in education law (1974-2012), among them American Public School Law, now in its 8th
edition which is the leading school law textbook in the United States. He is the co-author of twenty-four
book chapters (1973-2012) on various topics in school law including counseling, school policing, sexual
harassment, school finance, educational equity, teacher tenure, and the legal rights of teachers and
students. He is frequently called upon to serve as an expert witness in court cases including those in
Virginia, Louisiana and West Virginia.
Dr. Alexander’s work in education law and finance have been enormously influential. He has enjoyed
extensive service at all levels of education: local, state, national and international. And he has been
recognized for outstanding service at all four levels from his own College of Education in 1982; the
Virginia State School Business Officials in 1995; President of the Education Law Association in 2005-06 to
the International Advisory Committee (Invited) of the First Railway High School (high tech high school) in
Xian, China in 2012. He has lived a life that has inspired others; demonstrated a model of genuine care,
ethics and professionalism in service to education; demonstrated a commitment to research, teaching
and service to the profession and has made a significant contribution to the field of educational
administration.