Law review digests--primary and secondary education

Journal of Law and Education, Oct 2000

Matthew J. Schaefer, Individuals with Disabilities Act: "Related Services" v. "Medical Services"? 39 WASHBURN L.J. 143 (1999). More handicapped children will have access to public school education because of the Supreme Court's decision in Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F. At issue was the scope of the "related services" required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was promulgated to allow handicapped children access to public education. In Garret, the court utilized a "bright-line" test. Under this test, if a service could be performed without the need for a physician, then it would be considered a "related service" and must be provided. Conversely, if only a physician could provide the service, it would be considered a "medical service" which the school need not provide. Thus, more services must be classified as "related services" to further the spirit of the act. Note, Peterson v. Minidoka County School: Home Education, Free Exercise, and Parental Rights, 75 NOTRE DAME L. REv. 663 (1999). The author addresses how the Peterson opinion affects parents' rights to home school their children when parents' religious beliefs so dictate. The Peterson Court used a "compelling interest" test while validating the "hybrid-rights" analysis. Parents have a constitutional right to direct the education of their children if religious beliefs dictate; however, this right is not absolute. It must be balanced against the state's compelling interest to do otherwise. Note, Disestablishing Local School Districts as a Remedy for Educational Inadequacy, 99 COLUM. L. REv. 1830 (1999). Courts have grappled with ways to improve underperforming and failing local school districts by ordering increases in state spending and ordering that certain educational services be provided in these schools. Instead, by using a state's existing educational codes, the courts should order the disestablishment of school districts deemed failing and provide incentives for local school administrators. Administrators must either improve their schools or lose their jobs. When administrators fail, the state or a state-chosen third party can take over. The author concludes that disestablishment of inadequate school districts will probably help the children attending those schools. James E. Ryan, The Influence of Race in School Finance Reform, 98 MICH. L. REV. 432 (1999). School finance reform is significantly affected by race. School finance litigation is more successful in white school districts than in minority districts. Even when minority districts are successful in litigation, they face a more difficult legislative struggle than do white districts. Thus, in order to better address school finance reform issues, one must also consider race and desegregation issues.

Scott Pasternak, The International Legal Obligation to Teach Worldism in Classrooms, 10 IND. INT'L & Comp. L. REV. 51 (1999). The author refers to the history, structure, and laws of international and regional institutions as "worldism." The United States is under a moral and legal obligation to teach "worldism," which is best taught beginning in the primary and secondary schools. When taught alongside American history and civics, more awareness, acceptance, and legitimacy will be given to international and regional law. In turn, the general United States population will be better prepared for the new global millennium.

Davison M. Douglas, Reading, Writing, and Race: The Desegregation of the Charlotte Schools, reviewed by Carl Tobias, 48 KAN. L. REv. 139 (1999). Professor Douglas successfully and comprehensively traces the history of the Charlotte schools during the twenty year period after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. The first ten to fifteen years were met with limited desegregation. During this period, the judiciary was largely silent and progress largely the result of public protest. In the subsequent ten years, greater desegregation was brought on by Congress and the executive branch. However, race is still today the American dilemma. Nicole Garnett and Richard Garnett, School Choice, the First Amendment, and Social Justice, 4 TEX. REv. L. & POL. 301-363 (2000). School choice is at its most basic an issue of social justice, not political conservatism or religious manipulation. All children should be given the opportunity and the necessary financial support to attend the school of their choice; otherwise, children of the poor and disenfranchised will be sacrificed to the monopolistic institutions of state-supported public education. Concerns over the constitutionality of vouchers are wrong-headed and obfuscatory; the interests of children will best be served when public funds are used to support school choice for all students. Comment, "Fully Participating" Voucher Programs and the Wisconsin Template: A Brick or a Breach in the Wall of Church-State Separation?, 2 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 710-739 (2000). Wisconsin's Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, a voucher program that allows parents complete freedom in the choice of schools for their children, including public schools, is likely to survive scrutiny under the Lemon test as well as the endorsement and coercion tests. The Supreme Court's reluctance to rule on the constitutionality of the program suggests a drift by the Court toward a more relaxed relationship between church and state.