Several years ago, the Legislature adopted significant amendments to the basic conflict of interest statute for local elected officials, primarily in the area of financial thresholds, but also in the area of scope of enforcement. This is an important area of the law for board members and superintendents, so a current and thorough knowledge of the…

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness. We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state…

Educational leaders have a substantial degree of control over students and generally have a tremendous influence on the decisions that they make. District administrators are already involved in comprehensive efforts to stem sexual harassment, teen violence and bullying; therefore, they may be well positioned to identify and address the problem of…

Scholarship programs authored by state legislatures may conflict with a state's constitution. In the case of "Locke v. Davey" 540 U.S. 807 (2003), Joshua Davey challenged the State of Washington's withdrawal of his Promise Scholarship claiming violation of his First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. This…

Nearly every legislative session in the last decade has changed state law in a way that requires school board members and superintendents to be more highly sensitized to conflict of interest issues, regardless of the size of their district. Prior state law simply forbade most opportunities for financial conflicts of interest, especially those…

In 2003, education program officials at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked attorneys at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education to explore legal issues affecting the establishment and operation of small high schools in Washington State. Although this guide will be of interest to small school advocates…

In February 1971, the Seattle School District received funds to conduct a study of the feasibility of implementing the education voucher plan in Seattle. The study was divided into two preliminary phases. Phase 1 conducted over a 4-month period, consisted of an investigation of the areas of the city where the plan could best be tested, an analysis…

This curriculum guide consists of materials for high school vocational agriculture instructors to use in teaching a course in the law and agriculture. Addressed in the individual units of the guide are the following topics: the purpose of the law in our society, the judicial system, contract law, torts, ownership of land, and water rights. Each…