MSBA Journal: September-October 2020

LEGAL UPDATE

The Law and Local Control in Unprecedented Times

By Terence Morrow, MSBA Director of Legal and Policy Services School districts across the nation have risen to the challenges that 2020 has imposed upon students, families, staff, and communities. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it seemingly unending questions focused upon health and safety, teaching and learning, funding uncertainties, and more.

Minnesota’s school board members turned to customary resources to help answer these questions, including federal and state law and school district policies. In 2020, emergency executive orders, requirements and guidance from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and federal education and health measures expanded the range of sources upon which school boards could seek assistance. At the same time, school districts encountered new and sometimes confusing or contradictory instructions. In this environment, Minnesota’s school districts performed remarkably well under the circumstances.

A mainstay principle for school districts across Minnesota — local control — often appeared to be at odds with the evolving body of laws, requirements, recommendations, and guidance that arose during the pandemic. At times, 36

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2020

legislatures and departments determined how schools would operate. Examples included the statewide move to distance learning in the spring, the requirement that school districts provide care for children of essential workers, and limitations upon school district’s ability to exercise managerial control. In other instances, school districts were permitted to exercise local authority, including decisions concerning summer school and nutrition programs.

Graduation in spring 2020 and adoption of base learning plans for the fall 20202021 school year proved to be touchpoints illuminating the tension between federal and state direction and local decisionmaking by school boards. Executive orders forbade indoor or stadium graduation ceremonies. School districts could choose to hold a parking lot or similar commencement exercise. In August 2020, school districts could determine the fall base learning model, but only within parameters and metrics established by MDE and MDH. Understandably in both situations, some school boards and superintendents desired clear directives on how they should proceed.

Others preferred broad local authority with few limitations imposed from Washington, D.C., or St. Paul.

The very nature of the law likely exacerbated the tension. First, during a pandemic, little time is available for detailed, expansive, or unchanging laws and agency guidance. The transitory nature of such laws and guidance leaves gaps that local school boards had to resolve. Second, laws are written with broad strokes because it is impossible to address each conceivable situation with explicit direction. Thus, terms like “reasonable,” “to the extent possible,” and “must” versus “should” that occurred throughout the executive orders and MDE and MDH documents simultaneously lacked clarity and allowed local decision-making.

This year, Minnesota’s school districts sharpened their capacity to balance local decision-making and educational, health, and legal rules and guidance. School board members, administrators, and staff came together and worked with federal, state, county, and local experts to serve our students and families. In the end, the value of local community control of K-12 education in Minnesota has been illuminated and confirmed.

Terence Morrow is the MSBA Director of Legal and Policy Services. Contact with questions at tmorrow@mnmsba.org.

MINNESOTA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION | JOURNAL