Education Law Overview
Education law is a complex field of law that governs the various aspects of the education system in the United States. Broadly speaking, it encompasses all of the rules, regulations, and statutes that impact students, teachers, and the institutions they attend or work for. Education law is not a single body of law, but rather a combination of federal, state, and local laws that have been enacted to ensure that school systems are properly run.
The most essential reason for education law to exist is to set up a framework for how students and teachers interact and what the rights and responsibilities of each party happen to be . In ensuring that various protections are set forth for children, mentors and guardians, there is an opportunity to put in place a structure that will protect those most vulnerable members of our society while still allowing for individualized legal interpretation and flexibility, should circumstances dictate.
Education law varies from state to state, meaning the system put in place in one part of the country may be vastly different from another. It is, therefore, essential to have an understanding of the laws that apply to your location.
Legal Matters in Education
Education law is a unique field of expertise because it spans such a broad range of issues. Laws and regulations govern everything in education from the rights of students to the rights of teachers, even the policies and procedures schools must abide by. Below are common legal issues:
Parents of students with disabilities may wonder, what are my rights under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA)? When a student has a disability that affects his or her ability to learn, the school is generally required to create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for that student. The IEP will list the child’s specific goals and how they will achieve those goals. IDEA requires the IEP be reviewed every year and updated as necessary.
Teachers face their own set of issues when it comes to education law. Common issues include Teacher Tenure or Teacher Contracts, Firings or Dismissals of teachers, Teacher Governance, Teachers facing investigations into student abuse allegations, and Discrimination. Blacklisting or Retaliation is another major issue teachers may face which can be investigated and litigated as well. Tenure is a term for job security and stability for teachers, especially teachers who have had a positive performance record of teaching. However, in return for this job security, teacher tenure also comes with some of its own restrictions such as why a tenured teacher can be laid off or removed. Teachers with tenure cannot be arbitrarily fired or laid off for reasons other than legitimate ones that are defined by law or by negotiated contract.
Schools are required to have policies in place for numerous issues. Moreover, schools need to adhere to these policies as they apply to students, teachers, and school employees. One example of this is a school’s social media policy. Schools need to have a social media policy in place for teachers. School administrators should make sure teachers understand their social media policy. These policies apply to teachers when interacting with students on their personal social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. If teachers violate the social media policy, schools can discipline as appropriate, including termination—at least as far as their employment within the school is concerned. These policies may also apply to student behavior on social media if school administrators and teachers know about what is posted and approve of this behavior by refusing to act or discipline as required by school policy. For instance, just because a student posts something on Facebook does not automatically mean it is bullying. However, if school officials ignore or refuse to act on social media posts made by students, then the school may not be able to punish those students for foreseeable bullying. In other words, a school cannot add to a bullying climate if the bullying is known but ignored.
Locating Local Education Law Specialists
Locating Local Education Law Attorneys and Experts
The best way to ensure you fully understand education law is to connect with attorneys who are the local experts. Fortunately, finding them is easier than it seems. Look in your local phone books, or, better yet, source them through legal organizations. Once you have a list of names and contact details, reach out to them. If they have experience with cases like yours, they’ll be more than happy to answer your questions and provide you with additional, personalized information.
Remember, you’re looking for someone or some organization that has mastery of your state’s specific laws, and the deepest understanding of regional issues. Online guides can’t do this, but a local firm can.
If you need help, the online directories of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Attorneys General are very useful resources. From there, search for attorneys and firms with education law specialities.
Education Law and Children with Special Needs
Education law is an expansive field of study. And like any other area of law, it branches off into many different rights and laws and regulations that you must follow, especially if you are an education legal professional. However, it is understanding education law that applies specifically in your area of the world that will need to be taken into account. For example, the laws and regulations surrounding education in Florida may be completely different from the laws in California, Michigan, New Mexico, etc. So, being familiar with the laws that apply in your area is absolutely crucial to providing the correct information in your blogs, articles, publications, books, etc.
Because this blog is not intended to provide an exhaustive look at every aspect and branch of education law, I will only be looking at one topic: special needs education. Although education law itself can be a rather broad topic, special needs education can be quite the subset of a certain branch of education law.
Under education law, there have been many laws put into place for students who suffer from any sort of disability. These laws are put into place in order to protect students from potential abuse or being bullied, or not receiving equal treatment or access to educational facilities. For example, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) protects the rights of children with disabilities through special education and related services that are specifically designed for those students. Under IDEA, schools must carry out a free and appropriate public education to all disabled children. This law requires the school to work with the student’s parents to establish an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
A free and appropriate public education is also provided under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under this law, students cannot be discriminated against due to their lack of abilities. Schools are required to provide a free and appropriate education that includes all aspects of school life. This includes everything from lunch programs to school buses to basically anything else. While the student’s disability may prevent them from taking advantage of such accommodations, the schools are still required to make such accommodations so that students can live full, healthy lives even with their disabilities.
Privacy Law for Education
When students attend a school, college, or university in the United States, a considerable amount of information is gathered on them. Information about grades, mental health, and disabilities are among the most common types of information gathered. Schools are required to keep this information private to a certain degree, but there are many factors that affect the Federal and state privacy laws.
There are federal and state laws that in place for the benefit of students. One law, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is an important one. It was originally enacted by Congress in 1974 and has been amended several times since then. FERPA is only applicable to schools that receive funding from a program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. When schools willingly give up that funding, the law no longer applies. This law applies to the student’s records, as well as to the parent’s records if the student is under 18-years-old.
Schools must get written consent before releasing any of the student’s information. Exceptions exist when the request for information comes from the student themselves or their parents , but schools may be required to release information in other situations. Requestors include other schools, government agencies, and individuals.
FERPA’s definition of student records includes anything that is directly related to a student and is maintained by an educational institution. This means that everything from grades to deficiencies in psychology are covered by FERPA.
While FERPA is similar to state laws, there are differences. In Utah, privacy laws that are related to student information fall under the Utah Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. This act, which is substantially similar to FERPA, applies to anyone who operates a school including public and private institutions, correctional institutions, and institutions of postsecondary education.
The Utah FERPA gives students privacy of their school records as well as a right to inspect their records and to ask for records to be updated or corrected. Parents are allowed to free access to their child’s records until the child reaches age 18, at which point they have rights. The act prohibits schools from releasing student records to unauthorized individuals. Private information may be released with written consent.
Current Trends in Education Law
As we look ahead to the 2015-2016 school year, there are a number of recent developments in education law. The passing of No Child Left Behind has caused school districts across the country to re-examine their testing policies and procedures. Until recently, states have interpreted No Child Left Behind as requiring school districts to assess if students are meeting academic standards by way of state standardized testing. Under No Child Left Behind, all students, including students with disabilities, must be tested to see if they are learning what schools want them to learn. At least half of these students, it has been reported, can be expected to fail. Last year, in an effort to fix issues of students with disabilities failing standardized tests, Congress passed a law allowing states to exclude the scores of students with the most severe disabilities from overall testing results. As a result, more than 95 percent of students will now take standardized tests in some form.
At the end of last school year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling affecting special education students. Parents of a student with autism who did not benefit from a public school program took their son out of public school and placed him in private school. The parents successfully sought reimbursement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for the expenses incurred at public school when they placed the student in private school. This also allowed them to seek reimbursement for the expenses for the entire year at private school. Because the parents had already paid the entire amount, the Court rejected the argument that the student needs to show he would have received no benefit from the public school program. This ruling requires school districts to ensure they "provide the student some meaningful educational benefit."
How to Address Education Law Concerns
To exemplify their approach to education law, the majority of cases handled by the Stogner Law Firm, P.A. are begun by representation of students and parents. Only after an in-depth consultation does the firm represent teachers, educational paraprofessionals, and administrators. When a conflict or issue arises in an education setting, the first step is to speak to the parties involved. Oftentimes the issue is resolved simply through this communication. If another meeting is required after a brief conflict resolution, the parties may agree to a mediation outside of the school, district or institution in order to talk about the issues and try to find common ground. Sometimes, though, a client may have to go up the chain of command to resolve an issue . This often requires formal documents to be drafted and communicated, so that there is an official record of the proceedings and the information discussed. In many cases, formal hearing procedures are available for disputes that have not been resolved through regular channels. It is important to preserve your rights by taking part in all formal processes during any dispute. If the dispute has not been resolved by one of these means, or if you feel that you have been denied a right provided by law, you can pursue legal action. The Stogner Law Firm, P.A. handles several kinds of education law actions, including injunctions, restraining orders, and due process hearings.