Professional Educators of Tennessee

A federal appeals court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a school district's anti-harassment policy was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment right of freedom of speech.

In a unanimous Feb. 14 opinion, a three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that the State College Area School District's policy was too broad and could potentially punish students for expressing their opinions. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the legal guardian of two students in the 7,400-student district, who said they feared the policy would punish them for expressing their religious belief that homosexuality is a sin. The opinion overturned a lower-court ruling that had upheld the policy on the grounds that harassment is not entitled to free-speech protection.

Adopted in 1999, the district's policy defined harassment as verbal or physical conduct based on race, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics that had the effect of creating an intimidating or hostile environment. The policy went further than those of most other districts, by providing examples of harassment that included jokes, name calling, graffiti, and innuendo, or making fun of a student's clothing, social skills, or surname. The punishments for violations of the policy, which applied to the district's students and employees, ranged from counseling to suspension, expulsion, or firing.

"The [district's] policy prohibits a substantial amount of speech that would not constitute actionable harassment under either federal or state law," Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote in his opinion for the appellate panel.

David Warren Saxe, who filed the suit on behalf of two students identified in court papers as Student Doe 1 and 2, argued that the district's policy had created an environment in which students could not express opinions that opposed the popular "liberal" view. "This victory represents the first blow to the politically correct movement that restricts freedom of speech," said Mr. Saxe, a professor in Pennsylvania State University's college of education and a member of the state

PROPOSED 2002 FEDERAL BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Increases:                                                 FY 2001             FY 2002      Percent Change
Reading                                                       $286 mil          $900 mil            +214.7
Special Education State grants                        $6.3  bil           $7.3 bil             +15.8
Title I grants to districts                                  $8.6 bil           $9.1 bil             +5.3
Teacher-quality grants to states                       $2.2 bil           $2.6 bil             +16.8
Pell Grants                                                    $8.8  bil           $9.8 bil             +11.4

No Change:   
21st Century learning centers                        $846 mil            $846 mil               0
Safe and drug -free schools                          $644 mil            $644 mil               0
Bilingual and immigrant ed.                           $460 mil            $460 mil               0

Cuts: 
School renovation                                         $1.2  bil             $0                         -100
Choice and innovation  grants                       $934 mil             $472 mil                 -49.5
Educational Technology                                $872 mil             $817 mil                 -6.3
International education exchange                  $10   mil             $0                        -100
Vocational education                                    $1.24 bil             $1.22 bil                -1.6

The Weekly Standard reports that nationwide some 1,700 charter schools enroll almost 350,000 children. Most of these have waiting lists.