A 2020 lawsuit involves a public school teacher who refused to address transgender students by their preferred names because of his religious beliefs. This case is particularly significant because it is the first K-12 decision that analyzes this matter. This issue has important policy implications for schools and students.

Background: Over the past decade, courts increasingly have considered cases that involve clashes between public, secular private, and religious institutions in education. Such clashes appear to have intensified as recently as the 2019-2020 Supreme Court term, and the confirmation of Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Court in 2020 suggests…

The United States Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. held that a local school district violated the First Amendment freedom of religious expression rights when it directed an assistant football coach to stop praying on the fifty-yard line of a high school football field after each game. In finding for the high-school football coach,…

Many Americans are familiar with the First Amendment, but its application to prayer and religious activities in public schools is often misunderstood. Religious beliefs are increasingly diverse in the United States. Therefore, it seems imperative that school personnel are aware of the law and sensitive to an array of religious practices. We…

This policy memo examines some fundamental shifts, along with their real-world implications, within the past 60 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence, up to and including the current "Carson v. Makin" case. The Supreme Court is just a few small steps away from transforming every charter school law in the U.S. into a private-school voucher…

Courts have long held that public school teachers are "state actors" when they carry out the duties of their job. Despite this, very few teacher preparation programs include an education law class. In order to understand teachers' legal literacy, a survey was given to 300 public school teachers in Indiana. The survey assessed knowledge…

This case is for use in graduate courses pertaining to student affairs and higher education administration. It presents challenges higher education professionals face concerning anonymous social media, and specifically how threats made through anonymous social media platforms such as Yik Yak affect the entire university community. The anonymity of…

This article examines conflicts that have unfolded over the past 75 years regarding the separation of church and state in American public education. Through discussion of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses as articulated in the First Amendment to the "US Constitution," as well as influential court cases that have set legal…

Survival for public school teachers goes beyond curriculum design, discipline and other skills. School law is critical for teachers to face the areas of challenge that are currently present. There are two types of common legal mistakes made by teachers: a) failing to take disciplinary action when they should, and b) unintentionally violating…

The First Amendment Schools project holds rich lessons in how to change school cultures into "laboratories of democracy"--as well as in how to increase the odds of success for any school reform effort. School reform programs of any sort need to make sure to build in sustainability, to provide ways to spread their lessons beyond the…

Some private, religious schools that accept vouchers have been accused of discriminating against certain populations of students through their admissions processes. Discriminating against disfavored groups (e.g., racial minorities, LGBT students, students with disabilities, religious minorities) in voucher programs raises both legal and policy…

This study explores four instances where parental choice has been employed as a legal "circuit breaker": (a) First Amendment Establishment Clause cases related to public funding, (b) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection cases regarding race-conscious student assignment, (c) Title IX regulations concerning single-sex education, and (d) a…

Growing litigation between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), its member institutions, and student athletes has caused concern for both student athletes and colleges and universities. This qualitative research utilized a legal-historical, document-based method of inquiry. The research analyzed cases between 1953-2012 involving…

On September 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that officials from Everett School District #2 in Mill Creek, Washington did not violate student Kathryn Nurre's constitutional rights to free speech by denying the Jackson High School Wind Ensemble the opportunity to perform an instrumental version of Franz Biebl's "Ave…

The number of lawsuits pertaining to educationally related issues is on the rise in the US (Mounts, 1999). Garner (2000) reports that teachers consider legal issues the third most important area of teacher preparation. However, few universities offer undergraduate courses in educational law and few programs offer comprehensive training concerning…