ABSTRACT
Educators perform their duties within a legal landscape that constrains them from doing some things while permitting, empowering, or requiring them to do others. Legislatures create local school districts and give school officials the authority to raise taxes and borrow money, to buy property, to construct buildings, to hire and fire teachers, to purchase supplies, to prescribe the curriculum, and to discipline pupils. At the same time, the law limits the exercise of all these powers. The federal Constitution protects the free speech rights of students and teachers; provides procedural protection when they are disciplined; and prohibits policies that wrongfully discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, disability, or religion. The courts provide for the formal resolution of disputes and processes by which students, parents, teachers, and members of the wider community can seek redress for alleged infringements of their rights.
