ABSTRACT
Educators perform their duties within a network of law-law that both empowers and constrains. The law creates local school districts and gives school boards the authority to raise taxes and borrow money, buy property, construct buildings, hire and fire teachers, purchase supplies, determine the curriculum, and discipline pupils. At the same time, the law limits the exercise of all these powers. The law protects the free speech rights of students and teachers; guarantees them procedural protections when they are disciplined or fired; and prohibits policies that wrongfully discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, disability, or religion. The law provides an orderly way for students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers to seek a remedy when they believe the school has treated them unjustly.
