LAW - 830
Education Law Seminar
2 Unit(s)
This course will explore the legal framework and policy controversies surrounding public education. Topics will include compulsory education; homeschooling, charter schools, vouchers and challenges to the traditional school model; the special employment status of school teachers; students’ rights of free expression; special education; student discipline; and the quest for equity in public education. For each topic, students will consider (1) the key contours of the law as it stands; (2) how the law informs the operation of the public school system; (3) what policy judgments are reflected in the current state of the law; and (4) what changes should be made to the law in order to advance worthy policy goals. Students will discover the workings of the administrative state and the relationships between constitutions, statues, case law, and executive-branch regulations. Students will explore the ways in which that multifaceted law-making process informs both our understanding of the current law as well as strategies to improve the law. This course satisfies the Upper Division Writing Requirement.