Legal Foundations of
Education
Chapter 6
Learning Outcomes
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The U.S. Constitution sets the roles and
responsibilities of the states in ensuring public
schooling for all children
Critical issues between the courts and public
schools
Court-established guidelines for public funds in
private schools
Religious activities in public schools
Civil rights and affirmative action
Rights and responsibilities of teachers
Students’ rights and responsibilities
The Classroom Teacher
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Enabling Laws…laws that make it possible
for educators to do certain things
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Judicial Interpretive Process…the judicial
process of drawing conclusions about the
intent of the wording in the Constitution and
statutes
The Classroom Teacher
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Enabling and Legislative Agents…peoples’
rights under the U.S. Constitution, the
Constitution of the state, statutes of the state
legislature, state school board policies, local
school board policies
Interpretive and Administrative Agents…local
administrative officers, state superintendent
of public instruction, opinions of the attorney
general, decisions of the state court,
decisions of the Supreme Court
The U.S. Constitution
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The fundamental law of the nation…a state
legislature has no right to change it
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.
The U.S. Constitution
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First Amendment…ensures freedom of
speech, religion, the press, as well as the
right to petition
“Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for redress of
grievances.”
The U.S. Constitution
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Fourteenth Amendment… “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.”
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
Related to Public Funds
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Emerson v. Board of Education (1947)…taxraised funds for transportation of students to
church schools, ruled that reimbursement did
not violated the First Amendment
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)…direct aid for
secular services to nonpublic schools
(salaries, texts, materials)…ruled
unconstitutional because of excessive
entanglement between govt. and religion
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
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Wolman v. Walter (1977) provision of books
and materials and therapeutic and remedial
services to nonpublic school pupils…ruled
constitutional
Grand Rapids School District v. Ball (1985),
and Aguilar v. Felton (1985) instruction of
nonpublic school students in supplementary
education by public school teachers…ruled
that it violated the establishment clause in
that it promoted religion
U.S. Supreme Court Cases
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Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993)
interpreter for a deaf student attending a Catholic
high school…ruled constitutional
Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School
District v. Grumet (1994)…creation and support of a
public school district for Hasidic Jews…violated the
establishment clause
Agostini v. Felton (1997) Title I teachers to serve
disadvantaged students in religious schools…assign
teachers without regard to religious affiliation,
remove religious symbols from classrooms, limited
contact with religious personnel, monthly
unannounced visits by public school supervisors
Child Benefit Theory
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A criterion used by the U.S. Supreme Court
to determine whether services provided to
nonpublic school students benefit children
and not a particular school or religion
Public tax funds to pay for salaries of
teachers in religious schools have not been
upheld (In Minnesota, a tax deduction has
been upheld for parents of children in public
and private schools)
Practice of Religion in Public
Schools
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Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) balanced
treatment of biblical and scientific
explanations of the development of life…a
state cannot require that schools teach the
biblical version of creation
Wallace v. Jaffree(1985)prayer in public
schools led by teachers, and a period of
silence for meditation or voluntary
prayer…unconstitutional
Religion in the Public Schools
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Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools (1987)
request that fundamentalist children not be exposed
to basal reading series…rejected
Board of Education of the Westside Community
Schools v. Mergens (1990) right of a student
religious club to hold meetings at a public school…if
only one non-curriculum related student group
meets, then school may not deny other clubs
Lee v. Weisman (1992) religious exercise in a
graduation ceremony…unconstitutional
Segregation and
Desegregation
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Segregation…legal and/or social separation
of people on the basis of their race
De jure segregation…the segregation of
students on the basis of law, school policy, or
a practice designed to accomplish such
separation
De facto segregation…the segregation of
students resulting from circumstances such
as housing patterns rather than law or school
policy
Selected U.S. Supreme Court
Cases
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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) whether a railway
company should be required to provide equal
accommodations…court ruled that the 14th
amendment required political, not social,
equality. Thus the doctrine of “separate but
equal” was established
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954)…separate-but-equal doctrine has no
place in education, and dual school systems
are inherently unequal
Affirmative Action
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Policies and procedures designed to
compensate for past discrimination against
women and members of minority groups; for
example, assertive recruiting and admissions
practices
Reverse discrimination…a situation in which
a majority or an individual of a majority is
denied certain rights because of preferential
treatment provided to a minority or an
individual of a minority
Opportunities for Students
with Disabilities
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973),
three important themes: equal treatment,
appropriate education, handicapped persons
Public Law 94-142 (1975) “a free appropriate
education” to all children with disabilities
between the ages of three and twenty-one
IDEA (1992) tighter specifications for the
delivery of educational services to children
with disabilities
Teachers’ Rights and
Responsibilities
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Tenure…a system of school employment in
which educators retain their positions
indefinitely unless they are dismissed for
legally specified reasons through clearly
established procedures
Rights of nontenured teachers…usually do
not have due process rights
Academic freedom…the opportunity for a
teacher to teach without coercion,
censorship, or other restrictive interference
Teachers’ Rights and
Responsibilities
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Family Rights and Privacy Act a.k.a., the
Buckley Amendment: schools and teachers
must maintain confidentiality of student
records, and parents must be able to review
and challenge the records of their children
Educational malpractice…culpable neglect by
a teacher in the performance of his or her
duties
Students’ Rights
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Right to an education
Right to sue
Right to due process
Right to free speech (Tinker v. Des Moines) 1969,
black armbands in protest to military activities in Viet
Nam
Dress codes and grooming (incite or cause
disruptive behavior or pose a health or safety
problem)
Corporal punishment (Ingraham v. Wright) 1977,
may authorize it
Student and locker searches…in loco parentis