Education Law in Alabama: Not as "elementary" as You May Think
| Jurisdiction | Alabama,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 81 No. 6 Pg. 0414 |
| Pages | 0414 |
| Publication year | 2020 |
In 2003, I was sitting in my office when one of the shareholders appeared at my door. Spud Seale1 needed help on a school board case, and I was on deck. I knew nothing about education law, but as all associates quickly learn, we go where shareholders say. Nearly two decades later, I'm glad he came to my door. Education law has become my life.
At first blush, the practice of education law may seem, well, elementary, but if you spend some time with a school board lawyer, you quickly realize the complexities. Fifty years ago, some of this country's most controversial legal battles were fought at the school-house door. Moreover, a typical education practice will encompass countless other practice areas, including employment discrimination, real estate, bond issues, civil rights, domestic relations, personal injury, and even criminal law, to name a few. The average school system can resemble a decent size city, so "education law" is a misnomer. It's complicated.
Public education funding in Alabama is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. Our most recent Education Trust Fund ("ETF") budget topped $7.2 billion.2 The ETF supports 138 local school systems and five charter schools which educate more than 720,000 K-12 students and employ more than 90,000 people. In fact, many school boards are their city or county's largest employer.
But beyond the diversity of work and massive budgets, the factor that makes education law most complex is its impact on Alabama's most precious resourceour children. While some attorneys cherish the relative quiet of tax law, and others thrive in the inevitable chaos of criminal law, our work directly impacts children. As a result, parents and community members are empowered to voice their sincere and sometimes unvarnished opinions directly to our clients, if not to us. Sometimes loudly.
Virtually every decision on which we advise-whether the issue is disciplining an employee or building a school or drafting a social media policy-will directly affect a child's life. Emotions can run high, but we love this sometimes thankless work. While you won't usually see us on the nightly news and we can't command handsome hourly rates from our often cash-strapped clients, we can see and feel the effect that our work has on children. Our hope is that the impact is positive.
Fortunately, we...
To continue reading
Request your trial