School Law Bulletin Series

The article reviews the North Carolina legislation from 1997 affecting elementary and secondary education.

This is Part III of a four-part series discussing issues of liability in school volunteer programs.

This article looks at the development of school budget dispute laws overtime.

Ever since the first wave of state-initiated educational reforms began to be felt in the early 1980s, state responsibility for education has increasingly impinged on the local control of schools.

THE 1990S HAVE SEEN ENORMOUS CHANGES in public school law.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN 1998 enacted no sweeping changes in statutes affecting the sixteen constituent institutions that make up The University of North Carolina (UNC) or the state’s community coll

THE 1998 GENERAL ASSEMBLY enacted laws affecting single- and separate-prime bidding for local school administrative unit building projects, increasing the purchasing flexibility of school units and

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

Public schools, like most public entities, accumulate a lot of personal information about the people they serve and employ.

THE BIGGEST STORY in higher education legislation in the 1999 session of the North Carolina General Assembly was a bill that did not pass—S 912—which, in its original form, would have authorized th

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY enacted no bold new initiatives to improve public education in 2000.

IN NORTH CAROLINA’S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND COM- MUNITY COLLEGES, allegations of student misconduct can put in motion a variety of administrative and disciplinary proceedings.

This article describes the procedures by which local school boards may dismiss teachers and by which the board’s decisions may be reviewed under the due process provisions of the Teacher Tenure Act

The article comprises three main sections. The first section presents a statistical picture of school board chairpersons in North Carolina from the 1999 survey data.

BECAUSE OF TWO PROVISIONS in Chapter 115C of the North Carolina General Statutes (hereinafter G.S.), al- most anyone affected by any school decision may appeal that decision directly to the local b

This article begins with a general discussion of school preparedness plans based on my conversations with school counselors, nurses, psychologists, attorneys, assistant superintendents, assistant p

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

THE BIGGEST STORY in higher education legislation in the 2000 session of the North Carolina General As- sembly was the enactment of the Michael K.

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2000 Guilford County experienced a contentious battle over public school funding.

This article examines the Equal Access Act, the role it plays in protecting student-initiated groups, and the criteria school officials should consider when determining whether their school is cove

North Carolina’s public records law applies fully to the state’s public school systems.

IN A 1971 SPECIAL SESSION called for that purpose, the General Assembly overhauled the structure for operating the state’s four-year institutions of higher education.

MOST EMPLOYERS do not have the power to request criminal history checks on applicants and employees from the computerized records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the State Bureau o

The year 2001 saw numerous updates and changes to the rules applying to public contracts.

IN SPITE OF THE STATE’S FINANCIAL PROBLEMS, the 2001 General Assembly supported ongoing and new programs to improve student learning and achievement.

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

This paper explores the current state of the law with respect to students’ rights to free speech in the wake of school violence.

Consider this: a fifth grader is teased during class by other students, who call him “stupid,” “retarded” and “a reject.” Sound pretty typical?

In recent years, schools have faced increased pressure from some parents to qualify their children as eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (

In 2002 the biggest changes in education policy came from the federal government, not from traditional state policymakers.

The most important pieces of legislation affecting public purchasing and contracting this session (1) authorize the use of the “reverse auction” bidding method for purchase contracts, (2) allow pub

During the past several years, school resource officers (SROs) have been welcomed to many public school campuses.

A number of school systems in North Carolina today are struggling to provide school facilities adequate to a system of quality education.

This article describes each of those inquiries in detail, using examples from typical North Carolina schools.

In 2000 the General Assembly proposed—and the voters approved—issuance of $2.5 billion in general obligation bonds for capital improvements at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and $600 millio

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

That technology confronts us with great opportunities and equally great challenges is just as true in public education as it is in other fields.While electronic technology rapidly pervades public s

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees every child with a disability who needs special educa- tion a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that includes special educat

The General Assembly made only a few significant changes to public elementary and secondary school law this year.

More than a million children in the United States experience homelessness during the course of a year, a startling figure that begs the question, “What does it mean to be homeless?” School administ

In all fifty states and the District of Columbia, school-aged children must be immunized against certain diseases as a condition of admission to public or private school Forty- eight states, howeve

From time to time, third parties contact local education agencies (LEAs) seeking to conduct research using students or their education records.

Domestic violence has been a part of society for—perhaps —forever. And children have been scarred by it for just as long.

In 2004 three boards of county commissioners and their respective boards of education went to mediation to address disputes over the county’s funding of public schools.

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.

In mid-August of 2005 the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, working into the wee hours of the morning, reached agreement on the state budget—an event generally indicative of impending adjournm

The Clearinghouse digests recent state and federal opinions that affect North Carolina.