Can a school board choose a minority teacher, using race as a "plus" factor to promote a more diverse faculty for students' benefit? A school board in New Jersey unanimously voted to keep the minority instructor. The case of "Taxman" involves how much academic discretion educators should have in putting together a faculty. The…

In "Lambs Chapel," the Supreme Court struck down a complete prohibition against afterhours use of public schools by religious groups. Summarizes lower court decisions, and then the opinions of Justices White, Scalia, and Kennedy. Examines the Court's consensus about protecting religious perspectives under the Free Speech Clause and the…

Discusses Eighth Circuit Court's upholding of an Oklahoma nontenured second-grade teacher's claim of religious discrimination and violation of First Amendment right of expression when school board declined to renew her contract on recommendation of a principal concerned with parent objections to New Age thinking in a letter sent home attached to a…

In 1982 in "Lubbock Civil Liberties Union v. Lubbock Independent School District," the Fifth Circuit Court ruled unconstitutional a school policy allowing meetings after school hours for moral, religious, or ethical purposes. Federal courts have struck down other similar policies. (Author/JM)

Argues that the Supreme Court has two definitions of religion and that secularism qualifies under one of them, that public schools foster secularism, and that separation of church and state should be replaced by court approval of "religious balance." Available from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Provo, UT 84602. (Author/IRT)

This case is significant because it goes further than any other earlier decision in describing the outlines of the substantive due process concept as it applies to school discipline. (Author)

Proposes that the courts order school authorities to cut programs as necessary to fund desegregation rather than order a tax that has been prohibited in the state or locale. Available from Michigan Law Review, Hutchins Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. (Author/IRT)

From the 1940s to the 1970s, the numbers and outcomes of court decisions escalated dramatically in favor of students, employees, and other individuals suing school districts. Today, the overall trend of education litigation favors school officials. The single exception is the category for special education. Since passage of the original special…

Two recent court decisions--one from the state of Washington and the other from Indiana--demonstrate that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act's strong presumption in favor of mainstreaming disabled children has its sensible limits. (MLF)

Discusses a Pennsylvania case to determine whether a school district is liable for monetary damages involving a teacher's sexual abuse of a student. The case turns on the meaning of "appropriate person" under the U.S. Supreme Court's Title IX analysis. (PKP)

Reviews pertinent Supreme Court affirmative action cases since "Bakke" and several lower federal court cases, including "Gratz v. Bollinger" and "Grutter v. Bollinger," two University of Michigan affirmative action cases. Discusses how the Supreme Court will likely rule in "Gratz" and "Grutter."…

Fourteen years ago in "Goss v. Lopez," the Supreme Court dealt with the procedural due process required when students are suspended for 10 days or less. Examines how case law has developed in lower federal and state courts from this decision. (MLF)

The United States Supreme Court expressly created the "Hazelwood" standard to give school administrators more control over student expression occurring during a school-sponsored activity. However, until the Supreme Court strictly defines curriculum, lower courts will continue to make overly broad application of "Hazelwood" to…

The perception of an "explosion" of education litigation expressed by federal officials and by the relevant literature is incorrect. Summarizes the findings of previous research and of the present study to answer the frequency question, and reveals findings as to United States Supreme Court decisions. (MLF)

A school dance in Purdy, Missouri, occurred only because a federal district court prohibited enforcement of the school board's policy barring social dancing on school property. The commentary examines that district court opinion, subsequent events in the community, the appeal, and the Eighth Circuit Court's holding in the case. (MLF)