Chapter 2
 Who should make educational decisions?
 All laws passed by federal and state bodies, all state
constitutions, all regulations, and all board policies are
subject to the provisions of the United States
Constitution.
Statutory Law – is conceived, debated, and enacted by
the U.S. Congress or by state legislative bodies.
 Statutory represents the nexus between politics and
public education.
 The federal government has no authority to interfere
with the educational systems within the individual
states(IDEIA, Title IX, NCLB, etc.).
 Spending clause law – enforced by the threat of
withholding of federal funds unless statutory
requirements are met.
 State Boards of Education are policy making bodies
that function just below the state legislature(page 23).
 Regulations – developed by government agencies to
interpret, disseminate, and enforce statutory law.
 Two agencies that affect public schools are the Federal
Department of Education and the state department of
education.
Duties of local boards of education
 Raise taxes
 Set and approve budgets
 Allocate resources
 Establish and oversee the public schools in their
district
Local school boards are independent from city and
county government boards.
Common law or case law – develops from various court
decisions that interpret or apply constitutional,
statutory, regulatory law, or school board policy to a
particular situation.
 Based on the premise that not all legal problems can,
or should, be covered by a statute
 Common law is especially important to school
administrators
Stare decisis – reliance of courts on previous decisions.
Common law is the nexus where the tensions between
school board authority and the rights of students and
teachers converge. This is where ethical and legal
decision making often become controversial.
Fundamental concepts established by common law
 Behave in a fair and reasonable manner
 Accord due process of law
 Assure equal protection of the law
 Respect individual rights and freedoms
 Persons affected by a practice or policy are said to have
standing.
 en banc – when all members of a court hear a case.
 writ of certioari –only a small fraction of cases are
actually heard by the court.
Elements of a court decision(page 29)
 Named after the parties involved – plaintiff vs. person
being sued
Legal brief – summarizes the elements of a court opinion
into a usable document for further study and referral.