Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter "districts") are required to provide all children with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level. Thie Dear Colleague letter was written to remind school districts of the Federal obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to all…

The process of voting is a fundamental right and privilege of any democracy. In fact, "Merriam-Webster" defines the word democracy as "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free…

Passed by Congress on June 23, 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bars sex discrimination in education programs and activities offered by entities receiving federal financial assistance. In the 40 years since its enactment, Title IX has improved access to educational opportunities for millions of students, helping to ensure that no…

School districts are often given the challenging task of addressing problematic online behaviors committed by students while simultaneously protecting themselves from civil liability by not overstepping their authority. This is difficult, because the law concerning these behaviors is ambiguous and continuously evolving, and little consensus has…

Congress's role in defining and promoting equality of educational opportunity has evolved over the past 55 years since "Brown v. Board of Education." Most recently, all three branches of the federal government have focused more on equality of educational opportunity for "individual" students rather than for protected classes.…

Although the overall number of youth involved in the juvenile justice system has been decreasing, there are still more than 60,000 young people in juvenile justice residential facilities in the United States on any given day. With the support of grants administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),…

Credentialing examinations have been relatively immune from legal attack based on allegations that the examinations lack validity. The extent of the present legal obligation to demonstrate the validity of credentialing examinations is analyzed in three areas: (1) the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (2) the Constitution; and (3) antitrust laws.…

The article reviews the 1984 Grove City College v Bell case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prohibition of sex discrimination in federally supported educational activities, applied only to programs receiving aid and not to the entire institution. Trends leading to congressional overturn of the Grove City decision in 1988 are noted.…

There are a variety of different approaches to providing virtual education and significant program differences. This Issues Brief describes a process all virtual education programs should undertake to help best ensure all students have access to the educational opportunities provided by the program. The focus of this Issues Brief is to…

This paper sets out the legal grounds for sexual harassment claims in education settings, and notes a number of pertinent cases that are illustrative of common legal and factual issues. Sexual harassment, including sexual abuse, is prohibited by federal and state statutes. Sexual harassment in the context of employment constitutes employment…

Reviews the legal principles and precedents that frame current sexual harassment laws as they relate to schools. Discusses school district liability and responsibility for providing school environments safe from sexual harassment. Includes guidelines for developing and implementing school policies regarding sexual harassment. (CFR)