School A Law Primer: Part I
Student Discipline: Legal Pointers for Public Schools September 2000
(Presentation outline and case summaries) OVERVIEW School districts have the right to adopt reasonable rules and regulations to control student conduct. Such rules are necessary to ensure order and safety and to set the parameters of appropriate behavior. The rights of school officials to adopt and enforce reasonable rules of student conduct are not unlimited, and students enjoy certain constitutional, statutory, and regulatory protections from arbitrary and unreasonable discipline. The traditional doctrine of in loco parentis is usually cited as the basis of the school's authority over students. However, when dealing with the modern public school, it may be more helpful to think about the scope of a school's authority within the context of students' rights. The laws and policies governing student discipline vary significantly from state to state and among different school districts. States commonly require individual school districts to adopt codes of student conduct. Such codes generally detail the types of required or prohibited conduct, the kinds of discipline that will be imposed for infractions, the procedures that must be followed before discipline can be imposed, and the appeal rights that students may have. Note: Discipline of students with disabilities may be implemented only where consistent with the IDEA and is thus addressed separately in section V below. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS U.S. Const. Amendment XIV, Section 1: "No State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." LANDMARK CASES Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975). Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308 (1975) Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651 (1977) Board of Education of Rogers, Ark. v. McCluskey, 458 U.S. 966 (1982) Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
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MAJOR PRINCIPLES I. DUE PROCESS The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that a state, or any entity that is a part of the state, not deny a person, life, liberty, or property unless due process has been afforded. School districts fall within this provision. To determine if the due process guarantees are triggered, one must first determine if the state has attempted to deny a person life, liberty, or property. Although education is not a federal constitutional right, a student does have a property interest in education by virtue of state law. In addition, some disciplinary sanctions may implicate a liberty interest. Thus, the due process clause is often relevant in student disciplinary situations. The concept of constitutional due process contains two components: substantive and procedural.
A. Substantive Due Process The cornerstone of due process is the prevention of arbitrary and abusive governmental power. Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 331 (1986). The state may not deny a person life, liberty or property unless it has legitimate reasons. Due process may prevent state action no matter what procedures are made available. This aspect of due process is called substantive due process. When governmental action does not implicate a fundamental right, the standard of review for an alleged violation of substantive due process is the rational basis standard. Under a rational basis analysis, the law or regulation is valid unless it bears no rational relationship to a legitimate state interest. Henne v. Wright, 904 F.2d 1208, 1215 (8th Cir. 1990). Education is not a fundamental right under the United States Constitution. San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 35 (1973). Usually the state's interest in disciplinary situations is to maintain order in the school and to protect students. Thus, to pass the substantive due process test, a school must show its rules are reasonably related to these purposes. Substantive due process can be violated when the school's actions lack reasonable grounds or are unreasonably severe.
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B. Procedu...
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