Can State Law Provide Additional Student Speech Protections?
Yes. Six states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Massachusetts) have laws that provide public high school students with additional protections for their publications and other speech. In addition, California law ensures that for both public and private high schools, “a student shall have the same right to exercise his or her right to free speech on campus as he or she enjoys when off campus.” See Lovell v. Poway Unified School District, 90 F.3d 367, 371 (9th Cir. 1996). Moreover, California law also protects students at community colleges, public universities, and private postsecondary schools, but does not apply to religious schools “to the extent that the application of this section would not be consistent with the religious tenets of the organization.” The New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania constitutions also have been interpreted to provide some additional protection for the free expression rights of students on private campuses.
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- Can State Law Provide Additional Student Speech Protections?
