Historically, private education has been an option mostly for families who could afford the cost or received financial help. Years of research have shown that many families would choose private schools and other educational resources for their children if they did not face insurmountable financial or geographical limitations. Private educational…

This article provides an overview of non-religion-based state constitutional challenges to educational voucher and tax credit/scholarship programs. The first section discusses litigation examining whether education voucher programs violate constitutional provisions requiring the legislature to provide an efficient system of public schools. The…

States like Georgia have brought policy change allowing schools to arm teachers. However, ramifications of unforeseen costs and possible legal issues this could bring are still unclear. Since no school that out has openly armed their faculty and/or staff has been in an active shooter situation it is unclear whether this policy is effective.…

Just 18 minutes before the midnight signing deadline on May 15, 2010, Minnesota state legislators breathed a sigh of relief. Their bipartisan pension reform legislation, which passed both chambers by large margins and aimed to help shore up a potentially failing pension system, had just escaped a veto threat. Under pressure from his Republican…

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness. We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state…

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between teacher dispositions, subject content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and reasons that school principals recommend non-renewal of teachers' contracts. Nearly 2,000 school principals in 13 states completed an emailed survey. In deciding whether to non-renew a teacher contract,…

Educational leaders have a substantial degree of control over students and generally have a tremendous influence on the decisions that they make. District administrators are already involved in comprehensive efforts to stem sexual harassment, teen violence and bullying; therefore, they may be well positioned to identify and address the problem of…

The purpose of this study was to identify the job responsibilities perceived as most important in maintaining school district financial solvency. Additionally, the study sought to identify specific financial management strategies school business officials (SBO) could consider to maintain financial solvency in their school districts. A total of 208…

Growing up in an era when protest at national political conventions is carefully contained in "free-speech zones" (often physically removed from the site of the official conventions), students today may have a difficult time conceptualizing the tumultuous scene that was the 1968 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago. Fueled by…

Concludes that the ability of public high school disciplinarians to recognize the elements of fairness in student suspension situations is only minimally acceptable. (FL)

Points out several liability considerations a classroom teacher should be made aware of in undertaking the role of cooperating teacher. (FL)

These law-related lessons and activities can facilitate participation in a Law Day program. Following an introduction, this activities guide is divided into these sections: "Tips for Teachers" ("What Can a Lawyer Add to the Classroom?"; "So You Have Been Asked to Speak to Kids about the Law"; "A Checklist for…

Describes in detail how one school board dealt with the problems of a school sex scandal, and offers nine pieces of advice for administrators who might find themselves confronted with a similar crisis situation. (WM)

A statewide survey in Illinois collected data from homeless education service providers, focusing exclusively on the issues of residency and guardianship as barriers to the education of homeless children and youth. Additionally, remedies to these problems were analyzed and recommendations made. (38 references) (MLF)

A survey of Illinois public libraries found that: security was a problem (58%); material theft was a problem (56%); periodical mutilation was a problem (42%); and a patron or staff member was expelled or arrested in the previous year (26%). Discusses perceptions of security, security incidents, electronic security systems, and security policies.…