No Federal Case: Court Says Charter School Is Not a State Actor

Dunn, Joshua, Derthick, Martha, Education Next

Teachers and students in public schools who believe that they have been deprived of a right guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution or laws can take their claims to a federal court. Not infrequently they do, to the consternation of school boards and administrators. Whether teachers and students in charter schools have a comparable right can be a tricky legal question, as a recent decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shows.

Charter schools are created under state statutes, but they often retain a private character. Can they qualify as "state actors" for a plaintiffs purpose of using Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U. S. Code, which is the main gateway for achieving …

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Publication information: Article title: No Federal Case: Court Says Charter School Is Not a State Actor. Contributors: Dunn, Joshua - Author, Derthick, Martha - Author. Journal title: Education Next. Volume: 10. Issue: 3 Publication date: Summer 2010. Page number: 11. © 2009 Hoover Institution Press. COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale Group.

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