Symposium

Education in America is at an inflection point. Federal rollbacks of civil rights enforcement and the Department of Education, legislative campaigns to restrict and control curricular content, the rapid expansion of voucher programs and education savings accounts, and the rise of AI-powered instruction are collectively challenging the legal frameworks that have governed public education for decades. At the same time, demographic change, the growth of homeschooling and microschooling networks, and deepening political polarization over what schools are for and whom they ought to serve have intensified conflicts over the constitutional and statutory foundations of American education. Courts, legislatures, and administrative agencies are being asked to resolve questions that go to the heart of public education as a democratic institution: who controls schools, what they can and should teach, and whether a common educational project remains legally or politically viable.

This Symposium brings together legal scholars from across the country to examine the constitutional, statutory, and structural forces driving that transformation. It will address five areas of inquiry:

• What do constitutional commitments to liberty and equality demand of public education, and how are those commitments being contested and redefined?
• How does law construct and perpetuate racial hierarchy in educational institutions?
• How do schools transmit values and socialize students, and what legal constraints govern discipline, curriculum, and the formation of democratic citizens within them?
• How is the balance of power between families, children, and the state currently being renegotiated, and what does that mean for public education as a collective institution?
• What threats does the current moment pose to academic freedom and institutional governance in higher education?

The Arizona State Law Journal thanks our author contributors: Caitlin Millat, Rachel Moran, James Liebman, Bennett Lunn, Vinay Harpalani, Daiquiri Steele, and Claire Raj. We also thank our speaking contributors: Justin Driver, Derek Black, LaToya Baldwin Clark, Jonathan Feingold, Janel George, Osamudia James, Matthew Patrick Shaw, and Joshua Weishart.