Legal Foundations of
Education
Chapter 6
Introduction to the Law
Preaching vs. Teaching Letter
Pedagogical Objections
Ethical Objections
Legal Objections
Legal vs. Ethical
Legislation vs. Court Decisions
The U.S. Constitution
The Tenth Amendment: “The powers not
delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people.”
State Constitutions
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law
respecting and establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press.
The Fourteenth Amendment
Historical Background
“No state shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
Procedural vs. Substantive Rights
Church and State
Guidelines Handout; Select Issues,
Religious Activities
Chart: Key Cases, p. 233, 237
Funding; Child Benefit Theory;
Summary, p. 236, 238, 239
Segregation and Desegregation
De Jure and De Facto
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), separate but
equal
Stare Decisis
Brown v. Board of Education (1954),
Brown II (1955)
Chart: Key Cases p. 243; Summary
p. 241
Equal Opportunity: p.244
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title IX, Educational Amendments Act
of 1972
Affirmative Action
Students with Disabilities
AIDS as a Disability? Conceptual
Question
Teachers’ Rights and
Responsibilities (p. 248)
Chart: Key Cases, p. 249
Conditions of Employment:
Certification; Contracts; Collective
Bargaining; Strikes
Tenure
Academic Freedom
Book Banning; Liability for Negligence
Summary statements, p. 258
Students’ Rights and
Responsibilities
As Citizens- Chart, Key Cases, p. 260
To an Education
To Sue
To Due Process; in loco parentis
To Free Speech
Dress Codes and Grooming
Marriage and Pregnancy
Students
Corporal Punishment
Sex Discrimination
Child Abuse and Neglect
School Records; Buckley Amendment,
1974
Student Publications
Students
Students with Disabilities; IDEA“placement in the least restrictive
environment appropriate”; IEPs
Student Searches; Peer Sexual
Harassment
Educational Malpractice; Teaching 
Learning?
Summary Statements, p. 273