Overview of Texas Laws, Class notes Dr. William Kritsonis

1
AN OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION LAW, TEXAS SCHOOLS, AND
PARENT RIGHTS

• William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

2
Constitutional Law

• Power over education is a state function as
  declared by the 10th Amendment of the
  Constitution.
• By 1918 all states have compulsory school laws.
• States do not have to set up public school
  systems.
• 1973 San Antonio I.S.D. v. Rodriguez the US
  Supreme Court decided that education is not a
  fundamental right available to all persons.

3
Statutory Law

• A statute is a law enacted by a legislative body.
  Most statutes passed by the Texas Legislature
  that directly affect education are grouped
  together in the Texas Education Code (TEC).
• The Code is an important source of law because it
  applies to the daily operation of schools,
  detailing the responsibilities and duties of the
  State Board of Education (SBOE), the Texas
  Education Agency (TEA), school boards, charter
  schools, and school personnel.

4
Administrative Law

• Administrative law consists of the rules,
  regulations, and decisions that are issued by
  administrative bodies to implement state and
  federal statutory laws.
• Administrative law also includes the rules and
  regulations that state agencies establish to
  carry out their responsibilities. In the
  education context, this responsibility lies with
  the State Board of Education and the Texas
  Commissioner of Education.

5
Judicial Law

• Judicial law is composed of state and federal
  court decisions.
• Composition of the Texas Judiciary System
• District courts are the major trial courts in the
  state judicial system, having jurisdiction over
  major criminal and civil matters.
• From a district court, an appeal goes to one of
  the fourteen courts located throughout the state,
  and finally to the Texas Supreme Court.
• An appeal from a Travis County district court
  goes to the Third Court of Appeals in Austin.
• The Third Court, by virtue of its jurisdiction
  over appeals from the district courts of Travis
  County, has great influence over the development
  of educational and other public law matters.
• Only the Texas Supreme Court can speak for the
  entire state in civil matters.
• For criminal matters, the highest court is the
  Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
• Texas has two supreme courts, one for civil
  matters and one for criminal matters.

6
THE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TEXAS SCHOOL
SYSTEM

• TEXAS LEGISLATURE
• The Texas legislature is responsible for the
  structure and operation of the Texas public
  school system.
• STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION (http//www.tea.state.tx.
  us/sboe/ )
• The SBOE is a powerful entity its designated
  duties are establishing a state curriculum and
  graduation requirements, determining the standard
  for satisfactory student performance on
  assessment instruments, adopting and purchasing
  state textbooks, and investing the permanent
  school funds.

7
THE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TEXAS SCHOOL
SYSTEM

• THE TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY (www.tea.state.tx.us)
• Other than the legislature, the most powerful
  state-level player is the Texas Commissioner of
  Education, whom the governor appoints and removes
  with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate.
  The commissioner serves a four year term and the
  only qualification for serving as commissioner is
  US citizenship. The commissioner also serves as
  the executive officer and executive secretary of
  the State Board of Education

8
THE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TEXAS SCHOOL
SYSTEM

• Local School Districts
• The governance of schools clearly is left to
  local boards of trustees.
• School board trustees serve a term of 3 or 4
  years. The members terms are staggering. A
  person must be an eligible voter to be qualified
  for office as a trustee. Trustees serve without
  compensation. The state board is required to
  provide a training program for school board
  members through the regional service centers.
  Other training programs are offered through
  professional associations such as the Texas
  Association of School Boards (TASB)
  http//www.tasb.org/.

9
THE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE OF THE TEXAS SCHOOL
SYSTEM

• Private Schools
• In a 1925 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled
  that the states cannot require all children to
  attend public schools only (Pierce v. Society of
  Sisters).

10
HOW THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AFFECT TEXAS SCHOOLS

• Key Provisions of the U.S. Constitution
• The Bill of Rights of the US Constitution- where
  most of our basic civil liberties are included.
  The First Amendment is particularly important,
  for it lists several liberties inherent in a
  democratic society the right to be free from
  governmental control in the exercise of speech,
  publication, religious preference, and assembly
  (these only apply to the federal government.)
• The fourteenth amendmentnor shall any State
  deprive any person of life, liberty, or property
  without due process of law, nor deny to any
  person within its jurisdiction the equal
  protection of the laws. These two clauses
  together with the federal laws that implement
  them, provide the basis for constitutional rights
  suits against public educational institutions and
  personnel.
• The fourteenth amendment applies to school
  districts and personnel because they are viewed
  as political subdivisions of the state the
  fourteenth amendment does not apply to private
  schools.

11
HOW THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AFFECT TEXAS SCHOOLS

• Important Federal Statutes
• Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits
  intentional discrimination with respect to race,
  color, or national origin in federally assisted
  programs. This law was instrumental in the
  desegregation of schools during the 60s and
  70s.
• Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits
  discrimination on the basis of race, color,
  religion, sex, or national origin in all aspects
  of public and private employment. This law
  allows money damages for intentional
  discrimination.
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 accords
  persons with disabilities meaningful access to
  the programs and facilities of public and private
  schools as well as most businesses in the
  country. The statue also prohibits
  discrimination against persons with disabilities
  in pubic and private employment, and requires
  employers to make reasonable accommodation for
  disabled persons to enable them to perform the
  job. Money damages are available for intentional
  discrimination.

12
HOW THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AFFECT TEXAS SCHOOLS

• Important Federal Statutes
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  requires public schools to identify children with
  disabilities and provide them a free, appropriate
  public education in the least restrictive
  environment.
• Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments
  prohibits discrimination against persons on the
  basis of sex in any federally assisted education
  program. Title IX has gained major significance
  in the context of student and employee sexual
  harassment.
• No Child Left Behind attempts to raise student
  achievement levels by holding states and school
  districts to strict accountability standards.
  Each state must ensure that students make
  adequate yearly progress so that all students
  will be performing at grade level by the year
  2013-2014.

13
HOW THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AFFECT TEXAS SCHOOLS

• School Finance
• With growth, an imbalance between urban and rural
  districts became apparent. With the enactment of
  the Gilmer-Aikin Bill in 1949 did reform occur.
  This bill later became the focus of San Antonio
  ISD v. Rodriguez. The bill established a Minimum
  Foundation Program (MFP), through which state
  funds for personnel and operations were
  distributed and established a minimum below which
  no state could go. The MFP involved both local
  and state contributions to a special fund 80
  from the state, the rest from local districts.
  Each local district had to levy a property tax to
  support its contribution. Inequities continued
  because local districts remained free to enrich
  their contributions for their schools beyond the
  MFP local fund assignment.
• The plaintiffs in the San Antonio ISD v.
  Rodriguez lawsuit tried to convince the courts
  that this system of educational finance violated
  the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
  Amendment. The 3 judge federal district court
  agreed, but the US Supreme Court did not.

14
HOW THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AFFECT TEXAS SCHOOLS

• Parent Rights
• While constitutional law generally does not
  support parent rights in public schooling, Texas
  statutory law provides significant support for
  parents. The first objective of the public
  education system is that Parents will be full
  partners with educators in the education of their
  children.