Education Law Prof Blog

Reducing Suspensions and Expulsions of Students with Disabilities: Linking Research, Law, Policy and Practice

This from Loyola University Chicago on its upcoming conference and call for papers:

Loyola University Chicago School of Law and School of Education will be hosting an interdisciplinary working conference entitled “Reducing Suspensions and Expulsions of Students with Disabilities: Linking Research, Law, Policy and Practice”. We seek papers that explore current knowledge on the causes of disproportionate discipline of students with disabilities; discuss evidence-supported practices to reduce disproportionality; and identify areas for legal and policy reforms. The papers will be presented at the conference which will occur June 19 to June 21, 2019 at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus (Chicago, IL).  The conference is made possible through funding from the Spencer Foundation.

This working conference will bring together a small interdisciplinary group of experts in the fields of disability and school discipline. We seek participants from multiple disciplines, including law, public policy, psychology, sociology, education and critical race theory and with research expertise from a broad range of methodologies (e.g., quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies).

A stipend of $400 per paper will be awarded following submission and presentation of the selected conference papers. Reasonable travel expenses for the primary author will be reimbursed upon submission of receipts. Following the conference, up to 10 authors will be invited to submit a conference paper for publication in an edited journal volume or a proposed edited book, and each will receive a $400 stipend following submission of the finalized paper and completion of the review and editing process.

Please see the document Discipline Disparities and Disability Conference 2019 for full submission requirements. Send your completed submission materials (cover page, abstract, and paper summary) to: discipline.disparity@gmail.com (CC pfennin@luc.edu) by September 30, 2018 (midnight, CST).  Please also write “Discipline Disparities 2019 Conference Proposal” in the subject line.  

Please consider forwarding this email and attached submission guidelines to interested colleagues.  If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with either Pamela Fenning (pfennin@luc.edu) or Miranda Johnson (mjohnson11@luc.edu).

Education Law Association Hosting a Stellar Lineup at Its Annual Conference

The Education Law Association is hosting its 64th annual conference in Cleveland this year on Nov. 7-10.  It promises to be one of the best in years, covering a range of immediately pressing topics and recognizing historic anniversaries as well.  This year, Mary Beth Tinker, from the seminal Tinker v. Des Moines, will deliver the keynote.  In fact, the conference will host her in what is, to the week, the 50th anniversary of the oral arguments in the case.  Having been with Mary Beth recently at another event, I can tell you that her presentation will be incredibly refreshing and tell both her personal story and the longer story of how student activism around various different issues--desegregation, war, and guns--has shaped the nation.

Ken Trump, a frequent witness before Congress on school safety issues, will also deliver a featured talk.  And, per custom, Mark Walsh, author of Ed Week's school law blog, will offer his annual update on the Supreme Court.

Those looking for other excuses to attend can visit the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, which is just a few blocks away from the conference, or attend the various mixers and meals, where a huge chunk of the leaders in our field will be mingling about.  Just glancing at the program (and surely leaving people off whom I shouldn't), I am seeing, in no particular order, Rob Garda, Julie Mead, Preston Green, Regina Umpstead, TK Daniel, Justin Bathon, William Thro, Suzanne Eckes, and Perry Zirkel.  I have always found it to be an incredibly inviting group of people.

For more information on the conference and registration, see here.

 

 

 

Network for Public Education Conference to Feature Groundbreaking Report on the Privatization of Education

This summer, the Network for Public Education and the Schott Foundation released on new report on the privatization of public education titled, Grading the States: A Report Card on Our Nation’s Commitment to Public Schools. The report was the one I had been waiting for. It filled in key facts that have been missing from the public debate and will help move it in a more positive direction. The Network's national conference on October 20 to 21 will feature a panel on the report.  John Jackson, President of Schott, and Tanya Clay House, a long time civil rights advocate and former Obama appointee, will be on the panel along with myself.  Registration for the event is still open here.

The panel promises to be an important one.  As I argue in Preferencing Educational Choice: The Constitutional Limits, the analysis of charter schools and vouchers needs to be reframed.  Toward that end, I identify a handful of categorical ways in which states have actually created statutory preferences for charters and vouchers in relation to traditional public schools.  I explain why a statutory preference for these choice programs contradicts states’ constitutional obligations in regard to education.  I also explain how, even if there is no statewide statutory preference, choice programs can have the effect of undermining the delivery of adequate and equitable education opportunities in particular locations.  When they do, the programs violate state education clauses. We just have to examine the facts on a case by case basis.

My research, however, analyzes the issues from a relatively high level of abstraction, highlighting problematic examples in particular states and districts and synthesizing constitutional principles from various states.  The NPE/Schott report drills down into the facts deeper than anyone before.  It offers a systematic examination of charter and voucher laws in each state.  As a result, it clearly shows the extent to which each state’s laws represent a decommitment to public education.

The report is the “yin” to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ “yang.” Each year, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) releases a report detailing charter school laws, with the frame of reference being the extent to which states have law that promote the expansion of charters.  The report normatively assumes that charter schools are good and state laws that overly restrict them are bad.  So the states that it labels as having excellent charter school laws will probably fair poorly on the Network for Public Education (NEP)/Schott Foundation report.  For instance, NAPCS ranks Indiana as the top state for charters, but NEP and Schott rank Indiana in the 40s.

But that is what makes this report so important.  Because there hasn’t been any systemic to response to NAPCS’s reports, it has been able to skew the conversation. This new report brings balance.

Here are some key paragraphs from the executive summary:

Public schools remain a source of pride and hope, helping to level the playing field for children from incredibly diverse racial, ethnic, religious and socioeconomic groups. Even amid concerns and often unsubstantiated criticism, Americans continue to view public schools as a defining hub for their communities. In the spring of 2001, a national poll found that Americans ranked public schools as “the most important public institution in the community” by at least a five-to-one margin over hospitals, churches and other institutions. Nonetheless, within the past two decades, there has been a fervent push by those interested in privatization who seek to de-prioritize the importance of public schools and effectively undermine their functionality. Ignoring these attacks, most parents and citizens understand that public schools provide a critical service to American society by educating the majority of students with a base level of accountability while protecting their civil rights in the classroom. Moreover, a recent poll conducted in October of 2017 found that among all registered voters, only 40 percent supported vouchers while 55 percent are opposed. This number further decreases to 23 percent with opposition at 70 percent when voters were asked to consider support if it meant less money for public schools.

With the ongoing debate on the relevance and benefit of public schools versus private schools, the historical context of this debate must be understood. The commitment to a free education for American children has its roots in the 17th century and has evolved along with the laws of the nation to include a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for all children. Those of privilege have always understood that education is the cornerstone to success and inclusion in society. Yet the reality is that disadvantaged groups including African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, women, the poor, those with disabilities and others have always had to fight for inclusion. For many generations, structural racism inherent in American society maintained a segregated system for African Americans and people of color. From passage of Massachusetts’s first compulsory education law to present day, historically disenfranchised communities have fought for the right to receive a free education.

. . . .

The public education system was developed to serve all children and can continue to do so with the appropriate support from the federal, state and local levels. Public schools offer a rich opportunity for all children to learn from their peers of other racial, ethnic, religious or other identities. Private schools, including charters, were not created to serve all children. Although parents always have a right to send their children to private schools at their own expense, they are not and never can be the model for educating of all this nation’s children, nor should they be supported by public dollars.

The report evaluated education privatization based on the following, assigning numerical values to each:

• Types and Extent of Privatization
• Civil Rights Protections
• Accountability, Regulations and Oversight
• Transparency
• Other Factors (charter schools)

It found that:

Overall grades were assigned based on the extent of privatized school choice in the form of vouchers, neo-vouchers and charter schools, as well as the quality of the state’s laws that promoted accountability, oversight, transparency and civil rights. States earned an. The states with the best overall grades for resisting school privatization are predominantly rural states with a strong commitment to community public schools and an aversion to public dollars leaving already cash-strapped rural schools[, although]... rural state support for public education is not a universal pattern.

There are 22 states with grades between a C and a B+. Six states and the District of Columbia received a grade of D or D+ and 17 received a grade of F.

In addition to giving each state an overall grade, we assigned grades for voucher and charter policies as well. There are 22 states that earned an A+ for resisting attempts to give public funds in the form of vouchers and/or neo-vouchers to their public schools.

The six states with an A+ for their charter laws are Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia. However, there were also 37 states plus the District of Columbia that received a Grade of F based on their charter laws — states that embrace for-profit charter management, weak accountability and other factors that make their charter schools less accountable to the public.

For more detailed findings, see here.

Money, Markets, and Public Education, A Call for Papers

The AALS Education Law Section is pleased to announce a call for papers for our 2019 Annual Meeting session, called “Markets, Money, and Public Education.”

Panel details:
Law reform efforts vary as to the role they assign to markets and money in improving the field of public education, but one thing is certain: debates about markets and money are not going away. As alternative models of schooling (such as charters, publicly funded voucher programs, and online school systems) continue to grow, they are disrupting traditional public education in ever increasing ways. From stressing budgets to sinking enrollment, municipalities, counties, and states are struggling with how to fund and operate new schooling models while striving for high quality in their traditional public schools. Meanwhile, litigation efforts challenging state funding systems proceed in both traditional and new formats, and questions about equity pervade the debate. This session will explore these and related topics.

Submission information:
Please email submissions to Professor Eloise Pasachoff at eloise.pasachoff@law.georgetown.edu by Friday, August 10, 2018. Papers that address this theme of markets, money, and public education, broadly construed, are welcome. The Education Law Section executive committee will review the submissions and select one paper to be presented at our section’s program in January.

Although there are no requirements for the length of the submission, the review committee will preference completed drafts over abstracts or outlines. The paper selected may have the option of publishing in the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, although publication in that journal is not a requirement of participation in the panel; authors interested in this opportunity should so note on their submission.

The author of the paper selected will be responsible for paying all expenses associated with attendance at the AALS meeting.

Please direct any inquiries to Professor Pasachoff at the email address above.

Education Law Section Announces Call for Papers on Law, Politics, and Public Universities

The Association of American Law Schools' Education Law Section has announced a call for papers for its 2018 Annual Meeting session, “Law, Politics, and the Public University,” co-sponsored by the Sections on Constitutional Law and State and Local Government Law. The selected paper will be presented during AALS at a panel addressing topics such as the First Amendment, sanctuary campuses, student debt and higher education financing, for-profit colleges, admissions policies, and the demographics of higher education.

The selected paper will be chosen by the Education Law Section executive committee, and presented during AALS on Thursday, January 4, 2018, from 1:30 to 3:15 pm. The paper selected may have the option of publishing with the Fordham Urban Law Journal, although publication in that journal is not a requirement of participation. Authors interested in this opportunity should so note on their submission. Submissions should be emailed to Professor Eloise Pasachoff at eloise.pasachoff@law.georgetown.edu by Friday, August 25, 2017.

Call for Papers for 2017 Scholarship Conference by Central States Law School Association

The 2017 Central States Law Schools Association invites law faculty to submit proposals to present papers or works in progress for its 2017 Scholarship Conference. CSLSA is an organization of law schools dedicated to providing a forum for conversation and collaboration among law school academics. The CSLSA Annual Conference is an opportunity for legal scholars, especially more junior scholars, to present working papers or finished articles on any law-related topic in a relaxed and supportive setting where junior and senior scholars from various disciplines are available to comment. More mature scholars have an opportunity to test new ideas in a less formal setting than is generally available for their work. Scholars from member and nonmember schools are invited to attend. The Scholarship Conference will be held on Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 at Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale, Illinois.  The deadline for registration is September 2, 2017.  More information about CSLSA and the 2017 Annual Conference is available at CSLSA’s blog. Click here to register.

The Crisis in Public Education Through the Lens of Detroit

Kristi Bowman and her Education Law Seminar students at Michigan State College of law are hosting a conference on Friday, April 22 titled “Education, Law, and Detroit.”  The day-long event seeks to unpack the roots of the current crisis in public education in Detroit and to explore how legal reform can impact financial stability, governance, and achievement in Detroit’s public schools.  Speakers include researchers from various disciplines, legislators, and members of the Detroit education community.  

To attend in person, register at: http://www.law.msu.edu/education-law-detroit/ . Lunch will be provided.  Additionally, they are livestreaming the event here.

The full program is as follows:

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Can Markets Save Public Education?

On Tuesday, April 5, 2016, New York University School of Law is hosting the conference "Can Markets Save Public Education?"

 The organizers offer this description and schedule.

Join us for a conversation on charter schools, vouchers, tax credits, and other proposed market based reforms for public education. Experts in education policy, educational leadership, law, and economics will discuss potential impacts of charter schools on the community and area public schools, debate the merits of school choice programs, and explore the political and financial obstacles to implementing such reforms.

The keynote address will be delivered by Ms. Emily Kim of Success Academy, New York City’s largest network of charter schools. Ms. Kim is the Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs and Policy.

This event is free to attend, and lunch will be provided.

To RSVP, click here or copy and paste the link below into your browser:

https://nyu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_czK03fnVVtYFyGp

We have applied for CLE for this event. If approved, CLE credits will be awarded per panel.

Schedule

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21st Century School Integration: Building the Movement for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This from the National Coalition on School Diversity:

On behalf of the National Coalition on School Diversity, we invite you to attend our third national conference, "21st Century School Integration: Building the Movement for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,"which will take place in DC on September 24-25th.

The National Coalition on School Diversity (www.school-diversity.org) is a network of nearly 30 national civil rights organizations, university-based research centers, and state and local coalitions working to expand support for government policies that promote school diversity and reduce racial isolation. We also support educators, parents, and students working to create and sustain integration at state and local levels. Our work is informed by an advisory panel of scholars and academic researchers whose work relates to issues of equity, diversity, and desegregation/integration.

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NSU Shepard Broad College of Law Symposium: Shutting Down the School to Prison Pipeline

The Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law will host a symposium entitled Shutting Down the School to Prison Pipeline on Friday, September 18, 2015. The symposium will examine the practice of funneling school disciplinary matters into the criminal justice system, which stigmatizes the children and disrupts learning. The Nova Law Review and the Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association are the symposium's co-sponsors. Academics, practitioners, policy-makers, educators, community activists, and thought leaders are invited to exchange ideas, form effective strategies, and engage in meaningful dialogue about systemic change for educational reform and new approaches to school discipline. For more information and to register online click here.

Conference: Education Law Association Posters and Proposals Due By July 15

The Education Law Association is currently accepting posters and proposals for roundtable sessions for its annual conference on November 4-7, 2015 at the Marriott Downtown at Key Center, Cleveland, OH. The deadline is July 15. Details are here. Tip of the hat to Edjurist for the reminder.

Conference: Education Law Retrospective at Loyola Univ. School of Law on June 18

Courtesy of Miranda B. Johnson, Associate Director of Education Law and Policy Institute (Loyola) is an announcement about an Education Law Retrospective at Loyola on June 18:

The Education Law & Policy Institute at Loyola University School of Law is holding an Education Law Retrospective on June 18, 2015 from 11-5:30 p.m. The first part of the program will be a retrospective of the long-standing special education class action case, Corey H. v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago.  Now that the litigation has concluded, this case involves a special opportunity to hear perspectives from the judge who heard the case, the monitor who reviewed the parties’ progress in implementing the terms of the settlement, and counsel for the plaintiff class.  The second half of the program will be the Second Annual “Education Law: A Year in Review” seminar, which will address important developments in the area of education law during the past year. Gery Chico will share his perspective based on his experience as former Chair of the Illinois State Board of Education and President of the Board of Trustees of Chicago Public Schools.  Speakers will also address topics that include Title IX compliance in the higher education and K-12 context; best practices in developing effective bullying policies; and recent developments in special education law and in the 2015 legislative session.  CLE credit is available, and a reception will follow the program. For the full program and to register, click here.

Education Law Association's Conference Proposals Due March 1, 2015

The Education Law Association invites proposals for its November 2015 conference in Cleveland, Ohio on topics and perspectives that may be underrepresented in ELA conference programming or that reflect the full range of ELA’s membership (e.g., higher education and K-12, private and public schools, plaintiff side as well as defendant). Proposals will be favored that include presenters from multiple membership constituency groups (e.g., professors, attorneys, administrators). Prospective presenters are strongly encouraged to use the ELA Facebook and LinkedIn groups to note your own interest in presenting on a topic in order to gauge the interest of other prospective presenters on the topic you are considering, to identify topics for which no one else appears yet to be considering submitting a proposal, and possibly to identify co-presenters. Submit a proposal here.

Call for Papers on Privatization and Public Education: A Workshop on Vulnerability and Education

Amherst College, Smith College, and Emory Law School's Vulnerability and the Human Condition Project are co-sponsoring a workshop on privatization and public education at Amherst on April 25-26, 2015. The workshop's organizers, Kristin Bumiller (Amherst), Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory), and Alice Hearst (Smith), have extended the deadline for the call for papers. See the call for papers announcement here. The workshop description is below:

This workshop explores public education through the lens of vulnerability theory. Public education is a foundational means whereby the state fulfills its responsibility to structure institutions responsive to human vulnerability and need for resilience. Yet the state seems to be withdrawing or lessening its commitment to public education, and there has been a steady growth in privatization over the past half century. Increased funding for charter schools and voucher programs, and the increased number of students in private education and homeschool settings have diverted and decreased the availability of funds for general public education.

Conference at UCLA Law: Engaging the Entire Class: Strategies for Enhancing Participation and Inclusion in Law School Classroom Learning

UCLA School of Law and the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning (ILTL) will present a one-day conference called "Engaging the Entire Class: Strategies for Enhancing Participation and Inclusion in Law School Classroom Learning" on February 28, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The conference will include five workshop sessions presented by teachers featured in What the Best Law Teachers Do. Participants will learn concrete ideas for enhancing participation and inclusion in law school classrooms to take back to their students, colleagues, and institutions. Learn more about the conference here. Thanks to Emily Grant (Washburn Law) for the tip.

Stetson University's Conference on Law and Higher Education Will Focus on Title IX in February

Title IX compliance will be a critical topic at Stetson University’s National Conference on Law and Higher Education Feb. 12-16, 2015, in Orlando, Florida. From the announcement:

Stetson’s definitive annual conference, now in its 36th year, will bring national leading experts in higher education to Orlando to discuss critical developments in higher education law and policy, particulary in Title IX compliance in the wake of campus rape and sexual assault scandals. Conference participants will participate in rigorous boot camps, workshops, intensive sessions and collaboration with peers and experts. “Every educator in America should be concerned with making college and university campuses safer learning environments, and protecting the campus community from sexual predators. Anyone who works in higher education can benefit from this year’s conference, focused on developing the tools to respond,” said conference chair and Professor of Law Peter F. Lake. Professor Lake is the Charles A. Dana Chair and director of Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy. For more information, call 727-562-7793 or email higheredlaw@law.stetson.edu.

ABA School to Prison Pipeline Town Hall Forum

The Criminal Justice Section, Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Education Pipeline, and the Hispanic National Bar Association are hosting a town hall forum, The School-to-Prison Pipeline: What Are the Problems? What Are the Solutions? on February 6, 2015 in Houston.

To register, click on link to obtain Town Hall registration form at www.ambar.org/corej. Register for 2015 ABA Houston Midyear at ambar.org. For more information about the School-to-Pipeline initiative, visit the above website or contact Rachel Patrick, Director, ABA Coalition on Racial & Ethnic Justice
at Rachel.Patrick@americanbar.org

or (312) 988-5408.

Call for Papers: Education and Civil Rights in Indian Country

The Arizona State University Law Journal will host a Symposium on Education and Civil Rights in Indian Country. The Symposium will be held in conjunction with a Town Hall forum on the School to Prison Pipeline (see below for more on the Town Hall series).  The conference will bring together individuals to discuss pipeline concerns, experts who have developed successful programs and projects across the country to address pipeline issues, and individuals and organizations from diverse backgrounds who are working toward solutions to this issue.

The Arizona State Law Journal is seeking papers on the School to Prison Pipeline or on aspects of Education and Civil Rights in Indian Country. Interested authors and researchers would be expected to present their work at ASU on the morning of March 27, 2015 and to stay to contribute to the Town Hall that afternoon.

Anyone interested in participating should submit a proposal no later than January 8, 2015. Selected participants will be notified byJanuary 22, 2015.

Outlines are due March 13, 2015.  Draft papers are due by March 27, 2015 and final submissions are due by July 31, 2015.

Proposals should include:

• Statement of interest
• Title of the presentation
• Name, school/organization, phone number and email address of the presenter(s)
• Short summary of the intended topic and approach

Proposals can be submitted here. 

Printable PDF Flyer

Education Law Association 60th Annual Conference

Education Law Association 60th Annual Conference
Pre-Conference Seminars
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 – Sheraton San Diego Bay Tower, CA

Join Education Law Association prior to its 60th anniversary conference in
San Diego for your choice of four pre-conference seminars:
• Education Law for California K-12 Administrators
• Legal Ethics in Education
• K-12 Special Education
• Higher Education
With tight budgets, many professionals have had to make tough choices among conferences to attend. If you are unable to attend the entire ELA 60th Annual Conference, November 12-15, perhaps you, your colleagues, or students, will be able to attend one or more of our pre-conference sessions on Wednesday morning or afternoon. Each of the pre-conference sessions is geared to be of special interest to a primary audience of K-12 or higher education administrators, attorneys, education and law professors, as well as students who wish to learn more about education law.

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Junior and Aspiring Faculty Workshop Opportunity

Thanks to Charlotte Garden for sharing the notice below.  I would encourage anyone who is even moderately interested to go.  One of the biggest mistakes I made early in my career was not taking advantage of great opportunities like these to get feedback.

Twelfth Annual LatCrit-SALT 
Call for Participation
 Junior Faculty Development Workshop
 October 9, 2014
 University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV 

LatCrit, Inc. and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) are pleased to invite interested participants to the Twelfth Annual Junior Faculty Development Workshop (FDW), immediately preceding the SALT Teaching Conference.  This annual workshop is designed for critical, progressive, and social justice oriented pre-tenure professors, including clinicians and legal writing professors, as well as those who may be contemplating a teaching career.  However, we also encourage more senior members of the profession to attend, share their experience, and serve as resources and mentors.

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