{"id":1042,"date":"2025-03-24T16:54:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T16:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2025-03-24T16:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T16:56:14","slug":"reflecting-on-the-70th-annual-education-law-association-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/reflecting-on-the-70th-annual-education-law-association-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the 70th Annual Education Law Association Conference: Key Takeaways and Insights, by Jordan Hager & Nate Weaver"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 6-9, 2024, Loyola University Chicago School of Law<\/a> Students and ChildLaw Fellows<\/a> Jordan Hager and Nate Weaver attended and presented at the Education Law Association\u2019s<\/a> (\u201cELA\u201d) 70th Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference brought together legal professionals, law and education professors, law and education students, and education professionals from around the country and the globe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2024 Conference focused on the historic 70th Year Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education<\/em><\/a> (1954). In particular, the discussion of Brown<\/em> focused on the continuing efforts to ensure the promise of Brown<\/em> in the face of massive resistance efforts which have tried to subvert the landmark case\u2019s mandate, including San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez<\/em><\/a> (1973). Additional topics which were explored included: Student Discipline, Labor & Employment in Education, Legal Literacy for Educators, 1st Amendment Rights & Teacher and Student Expression, 4th Amendment Rights & Student Policing, Title IV protections, and much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Charter Management Organizations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conference had several sessions addressing charter funding, authorization, and management. Specifically, a session hosted by directors of state charter boards, Tom Hutton, Stephanie Klupinski, & Marianne Blaire, addressed the loopholes through which some charter programs can avoid oversight in receiving their charter and the ways in which charter authorization dictates the quality of charter programming. Additionally, several sessions addressed the all-charter network of New Orleans and the challenges in navigating the landscape of an all-charter city. In particular, Senior Director of Strategy and Impact at the Center for Learner Equity, Jennifer Coco, and Professor Robert Garda from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, presented their efforts to address the challenges faced by New Orleans\u2019 charter management organizations, including the development of an education service agency (\u201cESA\u201d) designed to enhance their capacity to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The ESA would create a centralized network of services available to participant schools, creating increased economies of scale for services which may have been unattainable without this infrastructure solution.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Religion and Public Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several conference sessions were dedicated to the growing issue of the injection of religion and religious liberty into public education. Multiple sessions discussed the recently passed legislation in Louisiana and Oklahoma mandating Christian material and symbolism\u2019s presence in public schools. Specifically, in the session \u201cSignificant Education Law Developments\u201d, Mark Paige, Tom Hutton, Jon Anderson, & Lynn Rossi-Scott addressed the growth of state legislation aimed at increasing religious symbolism in schools in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, and beyond. Additionally, a session hosted by Professor Spencer Weiler and undergraduate students at the University of Utah reviewed the recent legal landscape and the Supreme Court case Bremerton v. Kennedy.<\/em> The session looked at how Bremerton<\/em> enabled school personnel to express their personal faith in the context of their employment and how school districts have revised their board policies to address employees\u2019 religious expression. The \u201cU.S. Supreme Court Update\u201d with Mark Walsh addressed the recent Oklahoma case of a religious school, St. Isadore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, applying for a public charter and the possibility of the Supreme Court granting certiorari to review the Oklahoma\u2019s Supreme Court\u2019s decision ordering rescission of the school\u2019s charter.* Finally, Professor Jeffery Dodge from Penn State School of Law, examined a religious liberty challenge to a social emotional learning curriculum and how the insuring settlement has had a chilling effect on social emotional learning opportunities in schools.<\/p>\n

Voucher Programs<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the session \u201cSignificant School Law Developments in State Legislatures,\u201d Mark Paige, Tom Hutton, John Anderson, and Lynn Rossi-Scott explored the growth of voucher programs around the country. This session and various other discussions addressed the initiatives taken by state legislatures to provide tax breaks and financial compensation for families that choose to opt out of public schools. The recent voucher program in Texas operates through cash compensation to families, which allows parents to spend money on private and home school education without these institutions having to comply with federal and state discrimination laws.<\/p>\n

Loyola Roundtable Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were honored to present at a roundtable discussion on the impactful work of the LUC ChildLaw Center\u2019s Legislation and Policy Clinic<\/a> regarding the practice of issuing municipal tickets to students for school-based behaviors. \u200b\u200bBetween 2018 and 2021, nearly 12,000 municipal tickets were issued for school-based behaviors across 199 Illinois school districts, and the Clinic has been working with a coalition of student advocates since Spring 2023 to address the issue. Jordan and Nate provided an overview of \u201cSB-100<\/a>\u201d (PA-099-0456), which required progressive discipline in Illinois\u2019 schools prior to the use of exclusionary discipline, as well as the ProPublica investigative report<\/a> into the practice which has a disparate impact on minority and disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Updates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Walsh, Supreme Court reporter for SCOTUSBlog and education contributing reporter for Education Newsweek, presented his annual \u201cU.S. Supreme Court Report Update\u201d where he shared the relevant education related cases from the Supreme Court in the past year. Mark spoke about Lindke v. Freed<\/em><\/a> which discussed whether a government employee\u2019s use of social media constituted state action. He also addressed the implications of the Court\u2019s decision for educational institutions. Specifically, Mark showed how the Court\u2019s opinion now requires multiple factors be considered when determining whether an employee\u2019s speech on personal social media site constituted speech representing their school district. Mark also addressed Muldrow v. St. Louis<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>a case addressing job transfers in public entities. The Court ruled that job transfers must show some harm to argue discrimination has occurred when a public employee is moved to a new position. This standard applies to transfers for educators and employees of school districts.<\/p>\n

The 70th annual ELA conference provided an enriching learning opportunity where we were able to engage with a wide range of education law topics including Brown v. Board of Education<\/em>, Charter Schools, Religion and Public Education, Voucher Programs, recent developments in Supreme Court jurisprudence and much more. We were also able to present on the work of LUC ChildLaw Center\u2019s Legislation and Policy Clinic regarding municipal ticketing in Illinois and lead an engaging discussion regarding how to reform municipal ticketing and other forms of exclusionary discipline nationwide. Conference-goers were also able to explore Orlando\u2019s food-scene with \u201cDine Arounds\u201d each evening and a night out at Disney\u2019s Epcot! ELA\u2019s 2025 Conference is anticipated to be hosted in Kansas City, Missouri in Fall 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jordan Hager and Nate Weaver are law students and ChildLaw Fellows at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Prior to Law School, both Jordan and Nate were classroom teachers. Additionally, Jordan has served as an Elementary School Assistant Principal, and Nate has served as a Special Education Coordinator. Both Jordan & Nate will graduate in May 2025, and they plan to represent school districts post-graduation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

*On January 24, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari<\/em><\/a> in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond<\/em>, No. 24-394.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 6-9, 2024, Loyola University Chicago School of Law Students and ChildLaw Fellows Jordan Hager and Nate Weaver attended and presented at the Education Law Association\u2019s (\u201cELA\u201d) 70th Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference brought together legal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/edlawinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}