ABSTRACT
When an important educational historian traced the history of public education in America nearly a century ago, he remarked that local control of schools in the early republic was a “dog in the manger.” While this statement may seem a bit puzzling to us today, he may have been right. We sometimes forget that local majorities, that dog in the manger, often have a darker side. Over the years, they have imposed religious beliefs and prejudices on the public schools; segregated schools on the basis of gender, ethnicity, and race, and sometimes have acted irresponsibly in hiring and fi ring of teachers and school employees. The struggle to protect the rights of students and teachers from that “dog in the manger” has been a central theme in the legal history of public education in America.
