In December 2016, shortly after the November 8 presidential election, members of the California Legislature introduced for consideration a series of bills addressing immigration enforcement. Within the series, three bills would place limitations on a public agency’s ability to participate in federal immigration enforcement efforts and collect personal information regarding an individual’s religion, national origin
Education
Sexual Misconduct On Campus – Lessons From Due Process Litigation
One of the most contentious issues in higher education continues to be how to punish and deter student-to-student sexual assault, protect students and assault survivors, and at the same time fully honor the legal rights of all concerned. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits institutions of higher education from discriminating “on the…
Court of Appeal Overturns Superior Court Decision and Holds Teacher Tenure, Dismissal, and Layoff Laws Are Constitutional on Their Face
This post was authored by Kristin D. Lindgren
Background
On June 10, 2014, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore reported on the Superior Court decision in Vergara v. State of California. The plaintiffs had alleged that teacher tenure, dismissal and layoff statutes found in the California Education Code unconstitutionally harmed students in two groups: (1) a general…
Five First Amendment Issues to Watch in 2016 – Public Employment and Education
An unprecedented number of protests – at educational institutions and in city streets – occurred nationwide last year, and protests continue to serve as focal points for public attention and debate going into 2016. The legal realm concerning free speech is in a similar state of turbulence for public employers and for educators.
Here are…
The Broad Scope of the California Public Records Act: Caldecott v. Superior Court Affirms that Courts Interpret the Act to Favor Disclosure
This post was authored by Liara Silva and Alysha Stein-Manes
Last month, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision in Caldecott v. Superior Court (2015), finding that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District (“District”) was obligated under the California Public Records Act (“PRA”) to release certain documents related to an employee’s hostile work environment…
President Obama Signs the Every Student Succeeds Act into Law, Replacing No Child Left Behind’s One-Size-Fits-All Model with State-Centric Authority Over Education
Last week, President Obama signed the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (“ESSA” or the “Act”) into law. The Act reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (“ESEA”). A bipartisan compromise bill, ESSA supersedes the controversial No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”). ESSA effectively replaces NCLB’s federal-centric, one-size-fits-all model of K-12 education reform and…
The Federal Government Is Not Messing Around When It Comes To Title IX Compliance: What OCR’s University of Virginia Investigation Can Teach Us
Over the past several years, mainstream media has become increasingly fixated on issues of sexual violence on college campuses, with major state universities like the University of Montana, Michigan State University, the University of Virginia (UVA), and the University of California at San Diego receiving the brunt of the attention and corresponding criticism. The…
Governor Brown Signs New Vaccination Bill, SB 277, Into Law
This blog post was authored by Stephanie Lowe and Alysha Stein-Manes
On Tuesday, June 30, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law a bill designed to require that California schoolchildren are fully vaccinated, regardless of their parents’ personal or religious beliefs. The bill applies to children enrolled in public or private day care, public school districts,…
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Regarding the Constitutionality of Compulsory Union Fees
On June 30, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association to answer the question of whether compulsory “agency shop” fees violate the First Amendment. An “agency shop” arrangement requires non-union member employees to pay compulsory fees as a condition of employment even if…
Court Clarifies that Lease-Leaseback Arrangements Must be “Genuine”; and Simultaneously Creates Split among the Courts of Appeal on the Requirement for Validation Actions
In September 2012, Fresno USD’s governing board adopted a resolution authorizing the execution of lease-leaseback construction contracts without competitive bidding.
The lease-leaseback structure permits builder-financed construction. A school district leases real estate it owns to a construction firm for $1.00 per year and the contractor agrees to build new facilities on that real estate. This…