Education Law

Education news, analysis, and opinion about important court cases dealing with education
Justice John Paul Stevens looks over some legal material on Jan. 12, 1976 in Washington, in his chambers prior to joining his colleagues for his first working session on the Supreme Court bench.
Justice John Paul Stevens looks over some legal material on Jan. 12, 1976, in his chambers before joining his colleagues for his first working session on the U.S. Supreme Court bench.
Bob Daugherty/AP
Law & Courts Justice's Files Offer Insights Into Student Prayer and Other Supreme Court Education Cases
The new trove of John Paul Stevens' papers reveals internal debates over football game prayer, desegregation, Title IX, and drug testing.
Mark Walsh, May 12, 2023
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14 min read
David Sciarra, executive director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, an advocacy group for children in low-income cities, looks at paperwork during a hearing in a school funding case before the New Jersey Supreme Court in Trenton, Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
David Sciarra, executive director of the Newark-based Education Law Center, an advocacy group for children in low-income cities, looks at paperwork during a hearing in a school funding case before the New Jersey Supreme Court in Trenton, Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
John O'Boyle/AP/Pool
Education Funding Education Equity Expert: 'We've Gotta Give Up the Notion of Local Control'
David Sciarra, stepping down as head of the Education Law Center, says states have been let off the hook in the push for education equity.
Mark Lieberman, January 23, 2023
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8 min read
Miguel Perez stands outside the Supreme Court after arguments in the case of Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools on Jan. 18, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Miguel Perez, right, along with lawyer Roman Martinez, stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Wednesday after arguments in his case against his former school district in Sturgis, Mich.
Mark Walsh/Education Week
Special Education Supreme Court Seems in Favor of Deaf Student's Right to Sue School District Under the ADA
Miguel Luna Perez was there as the justices weighed issues in his case over his district allegedly failing to provide trained interpreters.
Mark Walsh, January 18, 2023
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7 min read
Miguel Perez
Miguel Luna Perez in a 2016 yearbook photo as a senior at Sturgis High School in Michigan. Luna Perez, who is deaf, went on to the Michigan School for the Deaf in a settlement with his district but is seeking to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for the district's alleged failures to provide him adequate assistance to communicate.
Photo courtesy of Luna Perez family
Special Education A Deaf Student Says His School District Failed Him. The Supreme Court Will Decide
Miguel Luna Perez received inadequate assistance for 12 years, his suit says. The high court will decide if he can pursue money damages.
Mark Walsh, January 17, 2023
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10 min read
Image of columns.
E+
Law & Courts The 8 Most Consequential Developments in Education Law in 2022
The list includes major decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, a transition on the high court, and several lower court decisions.
Mark Walsh, December 22, 2022
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6 min read
Members of the NAACP Youth and College division rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard oral arguments on two cases on whether colleges and universities can continue to consider race as a factor in admissions decisions Oct. 31, 2022.
Members of the NAACP Youth and College division rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices hear oral arguments on whether colleges and universities can continue to consider race as a factor in admissions.
Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO via AP Images
Law & Courts As a Skeptical Supreme Court Weighs Race in College Admissions, 'Brown' Looms Large
The cases heard Monday involve Harvard and the University of North Carolina, but a decision could be felt in K-12 education.
Mark Walsh, October 31, 2022
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8 min read
supreme court SOC
Getty
Law & Courts 4 Things to Know About the Affirmative Action Showdown Before the Supreme Court
The justices on Monday weigh the use of race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, with K-12 implications.
Mark Walsh, October 28, 2022
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9 min read
A protester holds signs at a Moms for Liberty rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on Oct. 9, 2021. About 100 people attended the rally to protest mask and vaccine mandates.
A protester holds signs at a Moms for Liberty rally at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., October 2021 protesting mask and vaccine mandates.
Paul Weaver/Sipa via AP Images
Law & Courts What Do 'Parents' Rights' Mean Legally for Schools, Anyway?
Conservatives rely on century-old U.S. Supreme Court precedents but want to bolster parental rights with a constitutional amendment.
Mark Walsh, October 20, 2022
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9 min read
Image of the Supreme Court.
iStock/Getty
Law & Courts Supreme Court Strikes Down Maine's Exclusion of Religious Schools From Tuition-Aid Program
The justices hold that barring "sectarian" schools from the program for towns without public high schools violates the First Amendment.
Mark Walsh, June 21, 2022
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7 min read
As her pupils bend themselves to their books, teacher Marie Donnelly guides them along in their studies at P.S. 77 in the Glendale section of Queens, New York, Sept. 28, 1959. In her 40 years of teaching, never has Donnelly had so many African-American students in a class. The youngsters were bused to the school from Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, a predominantly black neighborhood where schools are overcrowded. P.S. 77, which had an enrollment of 368 all-white students, can handle 1000 children comfortably. Parents in the Queens neighborhoods objected to influx, but the children themselves adjusted to one another without incident.
A white teacher teaches a newly integrated class at P.S. 77 in the Glendale section of Queens, N.Y., in September 1959.
AP
Teaching Profession Q&A 'Brown v. Board' Decimated the Black Educator Pipeline. A Scholar Explains How
A new book digs into a lesser-known and negative consequence of one of the nation's most significant civil rights milestones.
Madeline Will, May 16, 2022
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9 min read
The Supreme Court in Washington, Dec. 3, 2021. The Supreme Court has turned away a plea from parents to block a new admissions policy at a prestigious high school in northern Virginia that a lower court had found discriminates against Asian American students.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 3, 2021.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts Conservatives’ Checklist: U.S. Supreme Court Education Decisions to Overrule
Here are five education issues that could be targets for reconsideration if Roe v. Wade falls.
Mark Walsh, May 11, 2022
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3 min read
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Getty
Law & Courts Leaked Abortion Draft Has Supreme Court Education Cases in Political Cross-Hairs
Conservatives have taken aim at decisions on educating immigrants, race in admissions, and religion. Liberals have some cases in mind, too.
Mark Walsh, May 10, 2022
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8 min read
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas, on June 8, 2021.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas, on June 8, 2021.
Eric Gay/AP
States Texas Governor Sparks Backlash With Talk of Rolling Back Free School for Immigrant Kids
Critics assailed Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's idea as “hare-brained” and “cruel.”
Robert T. Garrett, The Dallas Morning News, May 6, 2022
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5 min read
A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington. A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It's unclear if the draft represents the court's final word on the matter. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which if verified marks a shocking revelation of the high court's secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided.
A crowd gathers outside the U.S. Supreme Court Monday night after the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the court intends to overturn the 1973 <i>Roe v. Wade</i> precedent that legalized abortion nationwide.
Alex Brandon/AP
Law & Courts 'Brown v. Board' Cited in Draft Supreme Court Opinion to Back Overturning Abortion Rights
The leaked opinion in a case still to be decided by the Supreme Court cites landmark decisions including Brown v. Board of Education.
Mark Walsh, May 3, 2022
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7 min read
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