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Michigan Ban on School Employee Union Dues Deductions Legal

In a split opinion Thursday, a federal appeals court cleared the path toward implementing a 2012 Michigan law barring public school employers from collecting union dues from their employees. ....more

Sixth Circuit Rules School’s Search Of Student Cellphone Violated Fourth Amendment

In a recent decision, the first federal appellate court to address the rights of school officials to search student cell phones held that a student’s violation of a school rule regarding technology did not justify a general...more

Texas Moves Forward with Bill to Ensure Flexibility in Admissions

On April 9, 2013, the Texas Senate approved a bill allowing the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) to maintain its cap on automatic admissions through at least 2017 no matter the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher...more

Elmbrook School District v. Doe: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Rule on the Constitutionality of Holding Public High School...

During its conference this Friday, April 12, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to consider Elmbrook School District’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking reversal of a decision issued last summer by the United States...more

Supreme Court To Hear Case On Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear another major affirmative action case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, No. 12-682. At issue is the legality of Michigan's voter-approved ban of using racial preferences...more

CWP 2693 of 2010/ 9968 of 2009 [Hemant Goswami vs. Union of India]

Final Order of High Court in Child Labour Case

Under the J.J. Act of 2000, a person up to the age of 18 years is treated as ‘child’. Same age is prescribed under the CPCR Act, 2005 as well. However when it comes to prohibition of Child Labour Act of 1986, the definition...more

Be Careful When Searching Student Cell Phones, Sixth Circuit Warns

With text messages, Tweets, Facebook posts and other digital communications so prevalent in student’s lives, schools have been struggling to deal with the influx of mobile devices on campus. Last week, the Sixth U.S. Circuit...more

Supreme Court Doubles Up On Affirmative Action Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a second higher education affirmative action case this term, even while a decision on the first is expected to be released imminently....more

Teacher On 39-Month Reemployment List Remains A District Employee With The Right To File A Grievance

In Nelson v. Jurupa Unified School District (PERB Decision 2309E, March 8, 2013), the Public Employment Relations Board ("PERB") considered whether a school district committed an unfair labor practice by rejecting a teacher’s...more

District Court Finds Boys’ Basketball Haircut Policy Does Not Constitute Discrimination Or Infringe Student Rights

In Hayden v. Greensburg Community School Corporation, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found that a school’s haircut policy for the boys’ basketball team did not constitute gender discrimination,...more

Religious Institutions Update: March 2013

In this Issue: - Key Cases - Court Upholds Permitting, Licensing and Zoning Regulation of Spiritual Counselors - Non-Liturgical Navy Chaplains Denied Injunctive Relief for Statistical Imbalance in...more

Jesus Painting In Ohio Middle School: The Right Choice?

A portrait of Jesus Christ that has been hanging in an Ohio public middle school since the 1940s is once again garnering national headlines. The school district reportedly moved the portrait earlier this week from the middle...more

SCA 3 Proposes Constitutional Amendment To Lower Voter Approval Requirement For Parcel Taxes From Two-Thirds To 55 Percent For...

SCA 3 seeks to amend the California Constitution relating to taxation by amending Section 4 of Article XIIIA, adding Section 4.5 to Article XIIIA, amending Section 2 of Article XIIIC, and amending Section 3 of Article XIIID,...more

Mexico's Education Reform May be a Catalyst for Change

Under the leadership of President Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico has recently approved a historic constitutional amendment reforming the country’s archaic education system. In order to push this historic reform, which is commonly...more

District Court Finds First Amendment Does Not Protect Former Guidance Counselor’s Sexually-Explicit Book

The Northern District Court of Illinois found that Rich Township High School District 227 did not violate the free speech rights of former guidance counselor and girls’ basketball coach Bryan Craig when it dismissed him based...more

Transgender Youth Barred From Girls’ Restroom

Coy Mathis, born a male, has identified as a female since the age of 18 months. Now at six-years old she must confront issues that far exceed the normal trials and tribulations of the first grade classroom. Coy has dressed in...more

Should Public School Money Pay for Religious Education?

A school voucher program in Douglas County, Col., that allows students to use public money to pay for private religious school tuition does not violate the state’s constitution, an appeals court ruled last week. The...more

Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelets And The First Amendment – Revisited

In February 2012 we discussed the turmoil that had erupted at schools across the country as students donned breast cancer awareness bracelets with the slogan “I (Heart) Boobies”. The bracelets were quickly banned after school...more

Christian School Files Lawsuit Against Former Teachers

The Little Oaks Private School, a Christian school based in Thousand Oaks, California, recently filed a lawsuit against two of its former teachers after they threatened a lawsuit. The teachers were fired last August when they...more

The Pledge Of Allegiance . . . Translated?

Standing in class, staring up at the American flag, placing your right hand over your heart, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, this is a memory we can all recall from childhood. Recently, however, a cloud of controversy...more

Forbidding or Allowing Student Religious Speech

A recent unpublished case discusses when a school can forbid student religious speech. If the speech is school-sponsored expressive speech, the school has much more leeway to exercise editorial control, needing only to relate...more

Seventh Circuit Dismisses Terminated Principal’s First Amendment Rights Case

In Julie McArdle v. Peoria School District No. 50, the Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a terminated school principal’s First Amendment and contract claims against a school district. The principal alleged...more

#Edchat Followup: Legal Issues For BYOD And 1:1 Programs In Schools

Each Tuesday the #Edchat hashtag brings together educators from across the globe to discuss education-related topics on Twitter. Last week one of the questions on #Edchat was “How do we train educators to teach in programs...more

Religious Institutions Update: February 2013

Last February, at the request of Senate Finance Committee member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations was formed to address tax-related policy questions of import...more

Weekly Brief: DOJ Memo Details Justification For Killing US Citizens  [Video]

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg Law) -- Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia runs through the legal news for the week. A confidential memo leaked from the Department of Justice details the legal rationale for the extrajudicial killing of American...more