WGU SCHOOL LAW D017 |81 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Common School Movement () Horace Mann and Henry Barnard Primary schools teaching the rudiments to all who needed it. Goal was to make the population more moral citizens. A Nation at Risk 1983 National Commission report calling for extensive educational reforms, including more academic course requirements, more stringent college entrance requirements, upgraded and updated textbooks, and longer school days and year. Types of Schools Public - funded through taxes and subject to all federal and state laws. Private - funded by grants, donations and student tuition and is not subject to federal or state laws. Charter- The charter is a performance contract which establishes the school's mission and goals. They can select (randomly) who attends the school and are funded by tax dollars and take the same tests as public schools. -Get less per pupil than public schools. Role of Government in Schools Federal - can influence education thorough funding powers and enforcement of constitutional rights. States - have absolute power to make laws governing education. Create state laws and has state agencies to adopt regulations. Federal Legislation Law at the highest or national level of a federal government, consisting of a constitution, enacted laws and court decisions pertaining to them. In education compliance is usually attached to funding. State Legislation State legislatures pass laws on issues. Example: compulsory attendance laws. Must be constitutional. Federal and State Regulations Supplements to the law that are legally binding. Help explain how the law should be interpreted and implemented. Case or Common Law the body of law made up of judicial opinions and precedents State Court Structure Varies by state but general includes trial court, state courts of appeal, and a state supreme court. Any federal question would go to the US District Court instead of the Trial court. Separate but Equal Doctrine The doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson that African Americans could constitutionally be kept in separate but equal facilities. De Jour Segregation vs De Facto Segregation De Jour - unnatural or forced state mandated segregation. -unconstitutional De Facto - natural segregation caused by house patterns for example. -not unconstitutional Brown v. Board of Ed. of Topeka "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate-but-equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Demonstrated that education is a civil right and therefore discrimination in education is unconstitutional. Unitary System Court has defined a unitary system as the status a school system achieves "when it no longer discriminates between school children on the basis of race," ReZoning of Schools Because of a long history of gerrymandering boundary lines with the intent to segregate, many school boundaries during the 1950s and 1960s had little to do with geographic barriers (e.g., rivers, hills); safety issues (e.g., location of busy roads, factories); or the size, location, or dispersion of the student population. When the schools were rezoned with good faith the schools were better integrated. 1st Amendment (Religion,speech, press, assembly, petition) Establishment Clause - Prohibits the government from establishing an official church Free Exercise Clause - Allows people to worship as they please. Defamatory, obscene and inflammatory communication, lewd and vulgar comments and expression promoting illegal activity for minors are outside the protective arm of the First Amendment. Free speech is limited in schools because they are limited public forums. Constitutional limits of religious expression for teachers and for students. How are they different? Students have a free exercise right to engage in private devotional activities in public schools as long as they do not interfere with regular school activities. Teachers - When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the State, teachers, school administrators, and other school employees are prohibited by the First Amendment from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from actively participating in such activity with students. Church and State Relations Students and teachers are not required to pledge allegiance to the flag and can sit or stand during this part of the day. States clearly have the authority to require vaccination against communicable diseases as a prerequisite to school attendance. Religious exemptions can be made for components to the state prescribed curriculum. teachers cannot assert a free exercise right to disregard aspects of the state-prescribed curriculum but students can. Evolution can be taught because it is science and creationism can not be because it is religious and has no scientific backing. 4th Amendment (Search and Seizure) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. School personnel can search students' lockers or personal belongings based on reasonable suspicion that the student possesses contraband that is either illegal or in violation of school policy. -Lockers are school property and subject to inspection. Under the probable cause standard, a governmental official must have reasonable grounds of suspicion, supported by sufficient evidence, to cause a cautious person to believe that the suspected individual is guilty of the alleged offense and that the search will produce evidence of the crime committed. The search must be justified and the scope of the search must be reasonable. Seizure A seizure occurs when individu 5th Amendment In part, the Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." 14th Amendment (Due process, equal protection) Protects students from being treated differently based solely on a single distinguishing characteristic and from illegal search and seizure. The Equal Protection Clause provides courts with the foundation to judge whether or not the classification of a group of individuals is intentional in order to discriminate against those individuals. Due process deals with the administration of justice and acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government. procedural due process; substantive due process, a prohibition against vague laws. Compulsory Attendance Act 1852 State level law: mandates attendance in public schools (or authorized alternatives) by children within certain age ranges for specific periods of time within the year. Was originally passed in the northeast to combat the number of illiterate slaves and uneducated poor Irish Catholics immigrating. (Dangerous classes) National Education Defense Act 1958 Enacted by Eisenhower in response to the launching of Sputnik by Russia. The act expanded the amount of federal funds allocated to elementary and secondary education dramatically with hopes of preparing a new generation of highly educated citizens who would advance the United States' reputation as a leader in scientific innovation. Focus was on STEM and gifted students who could not afford to go to college. Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965 Massive federal aid to education, most notably the improvement of educational opportunity for the poor. Several titles in the act to fund different initiatives; Title 1: low income students Title 2: support school libraries and textbooks for private and public schools. Title 3: Adult education act Title 4: educational research and training Title 6: Ed for those with disabilities Title 7 Vocational ed Title 8 definition of gifted and talented Title 9: protects against sex-discrimination Improving America's Schools Act 1994 Bill Clinton's re-authorization of ESSA. Changed title 1 requirements to include more schools, create math/reading standards, and allow schools to waive certain title 1 requirements. NCLB The 2001 re-authorization of ESEA under President George W. Bush Yearly standardized tests measured how schools were performing against the achievement bars set by Title I. Schools were also responsible for publishing annual report cards that detailed their student achievement data and demographics. Schools were now held accountable not only by punitive measures that would be taken if schools fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Required teachers to be "highly qualified" to receive funding. While NCLB helped in closing achievement gaps and mandating transparency, it also had problems. The law created incentives for states to lower their standards, emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success, focused on scores instead of growth and progress, and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their state-established goals