Education Law
Education news, analysis, and opinion about important court cases dealing with education
States
State K-12 Funding, Aid Formulas High on Legislators' Radar
Lawmakers around the country are wrestling not only with how much money states should be be providing in school aid but how it should be distributed.
Equity & Diversity
Appeals Court Rules Mostly White City Can't Form Segregated School District
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta determined that a federal district judge must rescind part of her 2017 order that allowed the city of Gardendale, Ala., to form its own school system separate from the mostly black Jefferson County schools.
School & District Management
Missouri Chief's Ouster Sparks Political, Legal Aftershocks
The state's Republican governor is in a pitched battle with the state's educators over the process he used to fire Missouri's commissioner of education.
Equity & Diversity
Civil Rights Group Warns States: Don't Bar Immigrant Students From Schools
Federal law established through a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision makes clear that schools and districts cannot adopt enrollment policies that deny or discourage children from enrolling because of immigration status.
Teaching Profession
Huge Stakes for Teachers' Unions as Fees Case Reaches High Court
Whether public-employee unions can continue to demand fees from nonmembers once again hinges on what a deeply divided Supreme Court decides.
Budget & Finance
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders School Funding Trial
Six school systems, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference want to change the state's school-funding system, which allows for wide spending gaps between low- and high-income districts.
Special Education
Legal Tangle Ensnares Case Involving Georgia Special Education Facility
A Justice Department lawsuit alleging that students were sent to segregated and inferior programs is on hold while an appeals court weighs whether the government can file such cases.
Law & Courts
Alabama School Secession Plan Motivated By Race, NAACP Argues
Lawyers representing the black families opposed to the split, argued that the decision could lead to resegregation of a district with a history of intentionally separating white and black students.
Law & Courts
What Kansas' New School Funding Formula Means for School Accountability
If the new funding formula passes muster with the state's supreme court, Kansas schools will soon get $285 million more in state aid, but with new strings attached.
School Choice & Charters
K-12 and the U.S. Supreme Court: Highlights of the 2016-17 Term
The justices confronted a number of important K-12 education issues, deciding cases on special education, free exercise of religion, and more.
Law & Courts
Transgender Advocates Buoyed by Student's Court Victory
A federal appellate panel upheld an injunction requiring a Wisconsin district to let a student who was born female and now identifies as male use the boys' restroom.
Equity & Diversity
Federal Judge Delays Mostly White Alabama Town's School Secession Plan
Less than two months after U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala laid out the steps the city of Gardendale must take to split from the more diverse Jefferson County schools, she has decided to delay the order.
Law & Courts
Mostly White Alabama Town Can Split From Diverse District, Court Rules
A federal judge will allow Gardendale, Ala., to form its own school district of mostly white students in spite of her criticism that city leaders are doing so as a way to control racial demographics in public schools.
Law & Courts
Detroit Signs Deal to Prevent State Shutdown of Poor-Performing Schools
The schools ranked in the bottom 5 percent academically statewide for at least the last three years. Under the agreement, the schools will remain open at least another three years.