This article provides an up-to-date and comprehensive canvassing of the judicial case law concerning the responses to students with concussions in the public school context. The two categories of court decisions are (a) those concerning continued participation in interscholastic athletics, referred to under the rubric of "return to play"…

Within the constitution of each of the 50 states, there is language that mandates the creation of a public education system. The authority for public education falls to states because of a 1973 Supreme Court case which determined that the federal government has no responsibility to provide systems of public education. These constitutional…

Gary Armstrong, assistant principal, is faced with a delicate situation. The elementary school recently enrolled a transgender student, and the principal, Amy Lamar, is resistant to considering the student's unique needs. This case was developed for use in a leadership course. Instructors can use the case to encourage dialogue around legal…

The author reports on the ruling of a divided appellate court that held that the state law unconstitutionally made it harder for minorities to seek preferences than for other groups. The court struck down a voter-passed ban on the use of race-conscious admissions by Michigan's public colleges, holding that the measure had unconstitutionally put…

This article presents a sample legal battle that illustrates school officials' "reasonable forecasts" of substantial disruption in the school environment. In 2006, two students from a Texas high school came to school carrying purses decorated with images of the Confederate flag. The school district has a zero-tolerance policy for…

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution sets forth the separation of church and state required in public schools. That clause has been interpreted in a lengthy history of U. S. Supreme Court decisions. Nevertheless, accommodating one person's right of religious expression while not infringing on another person's…

Part one of this trilogy of policy briefs explains the challenge facing Texas in funding public education. This policy brief explains why a Texas-style personal income tax is the best way to meet the needs of Texas. Only a personal income tax can significantly reduce reliance on property taxes--cutting the school operations tax from $1.50 to…

From northern California to southern Florida, there are just too many superintendents who are reluctant to touch religion with the proverbial 10-foot pole. Following the let-sleeping-dogs-lie approach to administration, they start to think about First Amendment solutions only after a fight breaks out. By then it is often too late to avert a bitter…

Reproduced here are the text of the 1982 Supreme Court decision "Plyler v. Doe" and its companion cases, "In Re Alien Children Litigation." An introductory statement explains that in this opinion the Court struck down a Texas law prohibiting tuition-free education for children of illegal aliens, on the grounds that education…

On July 22, 1980, in U.S. Federal District Court in Texas, Judge Woodrow Seals declared unconstitutional Section 21.031 of the Texas Education Code which restricted children of undocumented immigrants from attending Texas public schools. The decision's effect is to affirm the Constitutional right to an education regardless of immigration status.…