Franczek Sullivan P.C. - Education Law [Practice Areas]

EDUCATION LAW

Meeting and exceeding the expectations of educational institutions, their boards, and administrators.

Franczek Sullivan has the largest and most experienced team of education lawyers in Illinois. Collectively, we have represented educational institutions for over 100 years. This specialized knowledge has helped us develop an acute awareness of the special needs of the education community. The decisions made by education managers intersect not only with the students and teachers in the classroom but the larger community and state and federal laws. We anticipate problems, help avoid them, and work in partnership with you to create a positive climate for learning in the schools we serve.

We advise school districts in every aspect of education law including:

Labor and Employment
Special Education
Student Discipline
Real Estate and Construction
Revenue Protection and Enhancement
Constitutional Law
General Counseling

Through Franczek Sullivan Solutions™ for Schools we also provide a full range of training designed to teach school officials, administrators and teachers practical management skills so they can effectively recognize and prevent potential legal problems before they occur.

Meet our Education Law Attorneys:

Shelli L. Anderson

Katie L. Belpedio
Ares G. Dalianis

James C. Franczek, Jr.

Labor and Employment

We provide our school district clients with the full-range of labor and employment law services specifically tailored for the school setting. In concert with our substantial public and private sector labor and employment practice, we offer school boards and administrators unmatched depth and breadth of experience.

Special Education

The Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) provides parents and students with a myriad of rights while imposing significant administrative and financial responsibilities on school districts. Time and again we have helped our clients through the administrative and legal system, from Due Process hearings through trial and appeal in federal court. We offer thoughtful counsel and vigorous advocacy in this growing, highly-charged, and emotional area of the law.

Student Discipline

Must you provide live witness testimony at a student discipline hearing? Can you accept a transfer student previously suspended or expelled from another district? Is your bullying policy up-to-date? What constitutes ‘hate speech’? What should the district do once you have identified an incident of student sexual harassment? We have dealt with these issues and many more in advising and representing school boards across Illinois.

Real Estate and Construction

Land acquisition, disposition, and swaps, eminent domain, tax increment financing, utility easements, bidding procedures, contract negotiations, financing, and construction disputes and litigation. These are among a few of the issues touching on the real estate needs of a school district that our attorneys handle.

Revenue Protection and Enhancement

With the advent of the Tax Cap Act and the abolition of the Property Tax Protest Fund, a school district must be ever-vigilant in defending its property tax base. We provide the full range of property tax services from Property Tax Appeal Board intervention, defense on tax rate litigation, property tax exemption application and review, and undervaluation appeals. Moreover, we offer unsurpassed counsel on State Aid reimbursement claims as well as property tax legislative support.

Constitutional Law

From the First to the Fourteenth Amendment, our lawyers have a comprehensive understanding of constitutional law. We counsel school district clients regarding religion in schools, prayer and "moments of silence," free speech rights, drug testing, search and seizure of contraband, equal protection, due process, and much more.

General Counseling

Much of our day-to-day lawyering involves providing our clients with advice and recommendations on any number of issues that do not neatly fit within a particular category. This interplay of law and public policy is particularly profound in the field of school law. Firm lawyers have served at the highest levels of school districts and state agencies. Indeed, several Firm lawyers have served on their local school boards. In addition to legal advice consistent with what a statute or a court opinion might state, we offer practical ‘real world’ advice on the issues you face daily or maybe once in a career. Advice that can make for a productive, positive environment for students and parents, teachers, and administrators.