Education Law

This course will consider constitutional, statutory and policy issues affecting public education at the elementary and secondary levels, including: the respective rights and responsibilities of the State, parents, children, and the school in educating and socializing children; the place of religious values in secular instruction; the inculcation of political and social values; student rights of expression and behavior; teacher rights; teacher discharge;student disciplinary processes; educational governance; equal educational opportunity; racial discrimination; school finance and "adequacy" litigation; the needs of special education students; limited-English proficient students; gender equity; and federal statutes such as the No Child Left Behind Act. The course will occasionally employ North Carolina statutes to illustrate issues such as the distribution of educational authority at state and local levels; educational accountability; charter schools; and other current efforts to achieve educational reforms.