EdLawConnect Blog

With advances in education technology and the prevalence of technology use in general, instructors, system administrators, online service providers, and others are commonly requesting that students and parents supply their email addresses in order to facilitate communications and learning.  Under current California law applicable to K-12 public educational institutions, student email addresses ...

Whether or not door-to-door transportation is needed for a student with disabilities is an IEP team-based decision. To determine whether this type of transportation is required under the IDEA, courts have considered factors including the student’s needs, age, the nature of the student’s disability, the condition of the route to be traveled to the bus stop, the availability of public assistance when ...

In a Tentative Decision announced earlier today, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs in Vergara v. California, concluding that five provisions of the California Education Code are unconstitutional — Education Code section 44929.21 (two year probationary period); Education Code sections 44934, 44938(b)(1)-(2) and 44944 (dismissal of permanent teachers); ...

School districts are required to ensure that extended school year (“ESY”) services are available as necessary in order to provide a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) in accordance with federal and state law. (Title 34 Code of Federal Regulations (“C.F.R.”) Section 300.106(a)(1)) An individual education plan (“IEP”) team must make the determination on an individual basis ...

California schools are not immune from the increased use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), which include e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, and other vapor-emitting devices that contain liquid nicotine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of high school students who have used e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, from 4.7 percent to 10 percent. (CDC, Notes From the Field: Electronic Cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students—United States (Sept. 6, 2013).) E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco and are marketed as the “healthier” alternative to tobacco cigarettes. However, State Superintendent Tom Torlakson urges school districts to adopt policies that prohibit the use of ENDS to protect youth from becoming addicted to nicotine and thus at greater risk for using tobacco. (Cal. Department of Education, Adopting Policy Prohibiting Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (March 19, 2014).)

On May 19, 2014, AALRR won a motion dismissing a Complaint filed by a developer against a school district in which the developer sought a refund of parcel taxes previously assessed and paid pursuant to two voter-approved parcel tax measures.

The plaintiff, Golden Gate Hill Development Company (“Golden Gate”) filed the action in Alameda Superior Court against the Albany Unified School District ...

It is not an uncommon practice for unscrupulous and unlicensed contractors to “borrow” a licensed contractor’s license by designating a genuine licensee as a responsible managing employee (“RME”), even though that RME has little to do with supervising the work or managing the company.  Some of our school and community college district clients have suffered from poor work done by contractors ...

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 – commonly known as “COBRA” – gives certain former employees, their spouses, and dependent children the right to continue health coverage at the employer’s group rates. COBRA generally obligates both public and private employers with 20 or more employees to offer COBRA coverage when coverage is lost due to certain “qualifying events.”

As adopted in 1879, the California Constitution includes a “free school guarantee”: “The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least six months in every year, after the first year in which a school has been established.”  (Cal. Const. art. IX, § 5.)  The Supreme Court has interpreted Article IX of the California Constitution to mandate education for all students at public expense.  (See Ward v. Flood (1874) 48 Cal. 36, 51.) Section 350 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations and Education Code section 49011 prohibit school districts from charging fees unless “otherwise allowed by law.” Exceptions allow fees in certain, specific circumstances, with certain limitations. The California Department of Education’s Fiscal Management Advisory 12-02, dated April 24, 2013, Pupil Fees, Deposits, and Other Charges, describes circumstances when fees may or may not be permitted.

Join AALRR partner David Soldani as he participates in an interactive webinar for Strafford Publication, Inc. The panel discussion will focus on Renewable Energy Projects: Negotiating Power Purchase Agreements - Structuring Terms to Meet State and Federal Renewable Power Standards.

This live 90-minute CLE webinar with interactive Q&A will focus on PPA negotiations including a discussion of the key ...