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CHAPTER 9: Legal Aspects of Education
FOCUS Do you think controversies involving church and state will affect you directly as a teacher? Which aspects are most relevant in your subject field? What difficulties or challenges relating to religion might arise in the schools in your community?
and Georgia, they also are not required to give the exams, but parents can ask that their children with vouchers take the test, and schools must then cooperate. In Maine, if at least 60 percent of a school’s attendance is publicly funded, the school must administer state tests. The thirteen states and Washington, DC, in which students receiving statefunded vouchers can use them at nonpublic schools also vary substantially regarding which students are eligible, whether or how receiving schools participate in special education, limits on amounts received by the schools, the dollar value of the vouchers, and several related considerations. These differences lead to somewhat muddled discussions of controversial and emotional issues such as whether the public schools are being negatively over-burdened with special-education students, and whether public funds are being used to attract motivated pupils out of the public schools.82
Summing Up 1. Education-related court cases have significantly increased in the past few decades. Such cases can be heard in both federal and state courts, depending on the issues involved. Only decisions of the US Supreme Court apply nationally. 2. Tenure protects teachers from dismissal, except on such specified grounds as incompetence, immorality, insubordination, and unprofessional conduct. Teachers accused of such conduct are entitled to due-process protections. 3. Teachers have the right to form and belong to unions and other professional organizations, but most states prohibit teachers from striking. 4. Teachers’ rights regarding freedom of expression and academic freedom depend on a balance between individual and governmental interests. Teachers have rights guaranteed to individuals under the Constitution, but school boards have obligations to ensure the “proper” and “regular” operation of the schools, taking into account the rights of parents, teachers, and students. 5. Restraints on teachers’ behavior outside school and on their dress and grooming are not as stringent as they once were in the United States, but teachers still are expected to serve as role models and to behave in an exemplary manner. 6. Schools must uphold definite safety standards to avoid legal suits charging negligence when students are injured. In addition, teachers must obey copyright laws.
7. The courts have clarified and expanded such students’ rights as freedom of expression, due process in the case of suspension or expulsion, prohibition against bodily searches in the absence of specific grounds, limitations on corporal punishment, and privacy of records. 8. With regard to cyberbullying, the use of digital media to disparage the school or the staff, gaining access to prohibited materials, or circulating intimate images of oneself or classmates, students’ negative actions more often than not take place outside the school, although they sometimes happen in the classroom or make use of school equipment or resources. Regarding all these types of activities, there is tension between students’ rights to free speech and expression, and educators’ duty to protect and enhance the welfare of students and staff. 9. Organized and mandated prayer and Bible reading are not allowed in public schools. School curricula do not automatically constitute unconstitutional discrimination against religion when they ignore religious points of view or explanations. 10. The legal basis for government support for nonpublic schools is mixed. For example, the government may provide textbooks, tests, and psychological services for students at nonpublic schools, but providing funds for field trips, projectors, science kits, or maps is thought to entangle church and state.
“School Vouchers: State-by-State Comparison,” January 2014 posting by the National Conference of State Legislatures, available at www.ncsl.org; and Emily Le Coz, “Special-Needs Vouchers Could Face Legal Fight,” The Clarion-Ledger (March 12, 2015), available at www.clarionledger.com.
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