During the mid-to-late 20th Century, education law emerged as a distinct area of practice and scholarship in the United States. Attorneys began to develop specialties representing school districts, students, parents, and teachers, while law schools and colleges of education started to offer courses about the legal regulation of K-12 public schools. The statutory and common law governing schools grew rapidly, and developed in a manner that often treated public schools differently from other governmental entities. Now, law schools and colleges of education regularly offer an education law course. Many states' school administrator certificates require some familiarity with education law. The scholarly field of education law is rich and deep. Attorneys play a key role in education policy, as do state and federal legislatures and regulatory agencies. The issues range from school funding to supporting English learners; from racial equality to teachers' labor laws; from student privacy to school choice. Addressing those issues and more, The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Education Law provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of K-12 education law in the United States. A number of foundational chapters present a synthesis of general areas of law for those who seek an introduction. Dozens of other chapters build on those foundations, diving into various topics in a nuanced, yet accessible, way, creating value for those who seek to deepen or reframe their knowledge about a specific issue. Throughout the volume and especially in the last section, the authors also look to the future and thus help shape the direction of the field.

How the United States can provide equal educational opportunity to every child The United States Supreme Court closed the courthouse door to federal litigation to narrow educational funding and opportunity gaps in schools when it ruled in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez in 1973 that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to education. Rodriguez pushed reformers back to the state courts where they have had some success in securing reforms to school funding systems through education and equal protection clauses in state constitutions, but far less success in changing the basic structure of school funding in ways that would ensure access to equitable and adequate funding for schools. Given the limitations of state school funding litigation, education reformers continue to seek new avenues to remedy inequitable disparities in educational opportunity and achievement, including recently returning to federal court. This book is the first comprehensive examination of three issues regarding a federal right to education: why federal intervention is needed to close educational opportunity and achievement gaps; the constitutional and statutory legal avenues that could be employed to guarantee a federal right to education; and, the scope of what a federal right to education should guarantee. A Federal Right to Education provides a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the United States could fulfill its unmet promise to provide equal educational opportunity and the American Dream to every child, regardless of race, class, language proficiency, or neighborhood.

Riane Eisler’s Handbook is a beautifully and concisely written book about one of the most important social movements of our times. She presents the case for the ERA as a matter of simple justice. The Equal Rights Handbook has been hailed as: "...a wonderful book. You’ve done an enormous job in winning the fight for equality. Your work will be used, by me and by others, in this long hard struggle for simple decency – the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment." -Alan Alda "Riane Eisler has written the definitive book on the ERA." -Erica Jong "At last the significance and impact of ERA as law has been made clear by an attorney and legal authority who is also a woman, a mother, and who can write!" -Carol Burnett "...demonstrates that ERA is the missing link in our struggle to become a fully democratic nation. It is basic reading for every American woman." -Nancy Neuman, ERA Chair, League of Women Voters "...clears up the distortions leveled against the Equal Rights Amendment and provides essential information on organizing and fund-raising to promote equality for women." – Ruth Hinerfeld, President, League of Women Voters "...answers the misleading charges about ERA. More importantly, it answers the hard questions raised by those whose minds can be changed. At a crucial time, the Equal Rights Handbook is a necessary companion to help win ratification." -David Cohen, President, Common Cause