On April 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which was published in the Federal Register on April 13, 2023, on athletic eligibility under Title IX. The express aim of the proposed rule is to advance Title IX’s goal of ensuring equal opportunity in athletics. While working with
K-12 Legal Insights
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U.S. Department of Education: A Close Look at the Office for Civil Rights Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report for K-12 Education
On May 1, 2023, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released its annual report for Fiscal Year 2022. The FY 2022 report focused on civil rights complaints, proactive compliance reviews, technical assistance presentations, and revised policies and regulations. The highlight of the report was the unprecedented surge of civil rights complaints filed with OCR. OCR…
The Intersection of School Dress Code Policies and Title IX
School districts often have gender-based dress codes, outlining specific requirements for students such as mandating a particular skirt length for female students or prohibiting muscle shirts for male students. In late 2022, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on school dress codes that made multiple findings regarding the disproportionate impact of dress…
Florida Judge Pauses Enforcement of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act
On November 17, 2022, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida entered a temporary injunction against portions of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act that restricts how Florida’s public college and university professors present their curriculum and what students can and cannot learn in the classroom. The temporary injunction…
Affirmative Action: The Possible K-12 Impacts of the Supreme Court Cases Involving Harvard and UNC
On October 31, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS” or “the Court”) heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the race-conscious student admissions policies used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (“UNC”) to promote diverse school enrollments. The final decision in this case likely will be released at the…
Title IX’s Reach May Expand: Application to Non-Profits and Schools Not Accepting Federal Funding
In July 2022, two federal district courts on opposite sides of the country issued opinions that have the potential to have a major impact on non-profits and schools not accepting federal funding throughout the country.…
Supreme Court to Hear Case on the Continuation of Affirmative Action in College Admissions
On January 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court” or the “Court”) granted certiorari in the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College (“SFFA v. Harvard”) case. The Court consolidated SFFA v. Harvard with SFFA v. University of North Carolina (“UNC”) because both lawsuits are being brought…
Livin’ on a Prayer: Supreme Court to Hear Case of Football Coach who Lost Job for Praying
On January 14, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether a school district was within its rights in telling a coach not to continue to kneel and pray at the 50-yard line after his team’s games.…
What’s in a name?: Federal Court in Indiana Dismisses Teacher’s Religious Discrimination Over the Use of Students’ Preferred Names
John Kluge, a former music and orchestra teacher at Brownsburg Community School Corporation (“BCSC”) allegedly was forced to resign after refusing to refer to transgender students by the names selected by the students, their parents, and their healthcare providers due to the teacher’s religious objections. Kluge identified as Christian and claimed that referring to students…
Supreme Court Rules on Student Off Campus Speech: Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.
On June 23, 2020, in an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Mahanoy Area School District’s decision to suspend a student from the cheerleading team for posting vulgar language and gestures on social media (outside of school hours and away from the school’s campus) violated the First Amendment.…