Keeping "Education" in Education Law.

Overview & Synopsis

Education must be served by education law. This chapter analyzes determinants to education law and recommends that corrective inquiry begin with the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education (NOLPE). Special interest advocacy groups can be deterrents to education law. For example, the Supreme Court made contradictory decisions in 1982 and 1984 regarding the related services provision of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Decisions against school boards over racial segregation from 1954-72 indicated boards' neglect of education during litigation. The Supreme Court has expressed respect for boards as policy-makers, however. Much litigation can be avoided by clarifying codified law, such as the wording problems found in most outdated compulsory education statutes. Collective bargaining is not conducive to education, with its confrontational approach and tradeoff methodology. Federal and state bodies tend to prescribe details of operation to local school authorities, which hampers adaptations and results in lawsuits. The gravest challenges lie in dispute resolution. Mediation and conciliation should be employed because many educational conflicts need solutions, not victories. (CJH)