State Court Funding Symposium
Scott Bauries on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:22AM I want to announce to our readers an upcoming event at the Universiy of Kentucky College of Law that has implications for education law. The event, jointly sponsored by the Kentucky Law Journal, the American Bar Association, and the Center for State Courts, is a symposium on the funding of state courts, many of which are currently in what can best be described as a resource crisis. Here is a link to the schedule of events on September 23-24, which include Keynote addresses by both Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC-Irvine School of Law and current ABA President (and UK Law grad) Bill Robinson.
Now, what does this have to do with education law? Well, two major things. First, as with almost all categories of law, the majority of education related disputes are resolved in state judicial systems. A funding crisis in those systems will inevitably lead to a crisis in educational dispute resolution. Second, as many of you know, to the extent that "education rights" exist in our system, these rights are primarily state constitutional rights. Where state judicial systems are hampered, the development of these rights is also hampered. The issue of state court funding is therefore a vital one for those interested in education policy and law.
I encourage anyone with an interest in these issues of access to justice (and the ability to be in beautiful Lexington, KY this Friday and Saturday) to attend the symposium.
Reader Comments (2)
Interesting... any situation involving public funding is going to be contentious in this day and age (and rightly so), but this seems like a pretty important topic.
Indeed, Donna. The conference drew supreme court justices from over thirty states, along with major policy makers from around the country. If you are interested, the Kentucky Law Journal will be publishing an issue themed on the coference next Fall.