How the United States can provide equal educational opportunity to every child The United States Supreme Court closed the courthouse door to federal litigation to narrow educational funding and opportunity gaps in schools when it ruled in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez in 1973 that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to education. Rodriguez pushed reformers back to the state courts where they have had some success in securing reforms to school funding systems through education and equal protection clauses in state constitutions, but far less success in changing the basic structure of school funding in ways that would ensure access to equitable and adequate funding for schools. Given the limitations of state school funding litigation, education reformers continue to seek new avenues to remedy inequitable disparities in educational opportunity and achievement, including recently returning to federal court. This book is the first comprehensive examination of three issues regarding a federal right to education: why federal intervention is needed to close educational opportunity and achievement gaps; the constitutional and statutory legal avenues that could be employed to guarantee a federal right to education; and, the scope of what a federal right to education should guarantee. A Federal Right to Education provides a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the United States could fulfill its unmet promise to provide equal educational opportunity and the American Dream to every child, regardless of race, class, language proficiency, or neighborhood.

The full-scale assault on public education threatens not just public education but American democracy itself. Public education as we know it is in trouble. Derek W. Black, a legal scholar and tenacious advocate, shows how major democratic and constitutional developments are intimately linked to the expansion of public education throughout American history. Schoolhouse Burningis grounded in pathbreaking, original research into how the nation, in its infancy, built itself around public education and, following the Civil War, enshrined education as a constitutional right that forever changed the trajectory of our democracy. Public education, alongside the right to vote, was the cornerstone of the recovery of the war-torn nation. Today's current schooling trends -- the declining commitment to properly fund public education and the well-financed political agenda to expand vouchers and charter schools -- present a major assault on the democratic norms that public education represents and risk undermining one of the unique accomplishments of American society.

The Council, with help from the US Department of Education, held the Millennium Convention in Washington, DC in September 2000. It gathered educators, researchers, and policy makers at the national, state, and local levels to assess success and failure in educating minority and disadvantaged students since the Brown vs, Board of Education decision nearly a half century before, report on research into the causes of the successes and failures, and review strategies and practices that hold promise for continuing improvements. There is no index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In 2005, famed civil rights leader and education activist Robert Moses invited one hundred prominent African American and Latino intellectuals and activists to meet to discuss a proposal for a campaign to guarantee a quality education for all children as a constitutional right—a movement that would “transform current approaches to educational inequity, all of which have failed miserably to yield results for our children.” The response was passionate, and the meeting launched a movement. This book—emerging directly from that effort—reports on what has happened since and calls for a new scale of organizing, legal initiatives, and public definitions of what a quality education is. Essays include · Robert Moses’s historically rooted call for citizens, especially young people, to make the demand for quality education · Ernesto Cortés’s view from decades of work organizing Latino communities in Texas · Charles Payne’s interview with students from the Baltimore Algebra Project, who organized to make historic demands on their district · Legal scholar Imani Perry’s nuanced analysis of the prospects of making a case for quality education as a right guaranteed by the Constitution · Perspectives from scholars Lisa Delpit and Joan T. Wynne, and by teachers Alicia Caroll and Kim Parker, who provide examples of what quality education is, describing its goal, and how to guide practice in the meantime

This book advances the idea that American education suffers from three underlying legal defects: the rejection of parental rights, domination by state laws that undermine parental rights, and the devastating effects of an unconstitutional expansion of federal power. The book advocates strengthening parents' inalienable right to direct the education of their children in concert with state laws designed to secure these rights of parents and repeal those laws which hinder parental involvement. Also, the book encourages the idea that the federal government should disentangle itself from education altogether; arguing that its current jurisdiction over education is contrary to the Constitution. Real Choice, Real Freedom is not about revitalizing the failing public school system, but rather raises a more cardinal question: 'Can our Republic maintain real freedom when the civil government uses law to control the education of its youngest citizens?' Consequently, the work calls for the legal disestablisment of government interference, regulation, and control of American education.

This book explores parents' legal rights concerning their children's elementary and secondary education. Besides certain constitutional rights (including parents' right to direct their children's education), parents and students have been granted various rights under state and federal statutes. This book aims to demystify the law and provide parents with the necessary knowledge to assert their rights (outside the court system) and bring violations to the attention of teachers, administrators, and other parents so that their children receive an appropriate education. Following a brief overview of parents' rights, chapters 2 through 6 discuss rights derived from the Constitution, including a student's right to fair treatment by a school disciplinary system, First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and press, freedom of religion and separation of church and state, and equal educational opportunity. Chapters 7 through 9 focus on the common law and state control of education, covering compensation for injured children, damages collection for poor teaching, and conflicts between parent and state education agencies. Chapter 10 treats parents' rights concerning school records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Chapter 11 discusses federal law governing rights of parents of children with special education needs, highlighting the Education for All Children Act of 1975. Chapter 12 concerns physical appearance (proper dress), while chapter 13 confronts the rights of poor and non-English-speaking parents and children. The final chapter covers legal literacy for parents. Three appendices provide constitutional amendments of special relevance to parents and students, legal research hints, and two Supreme Court decisions. Also included are a table of cases, chapter endnotes, and an index. (MLH)