Advocacy Groups and School Access Law Dictating Outside Groups' Rights at Schools

This page contains information for non-student organizations seeking access to public schools to convey information or a political message.

Outside advocacy groups do not enjoy the same rights as students or student organizations; although there is a strong history of case law supporting student's rights in schools, the rights of outside groups are less clear. In general, schools can deny access to all outside organizations, but they may not discriminate based on "viewpoint." In other words, they cannot allow some organizations to come into the school and deny equal rights to others because they disagree with their point of view.

Two historical legal cases have established precendent for outside groups' access to schools. One case was decided in California; the other was decided in Georgia. In San Diego Committee Against Registration and the Draft (CARD) v. Governing Board of Grossmont Union High School District, 790 F.2d 1471 (9th Cir. 1986), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a school which allowed the military to advertise in a student journal could not deny that right to an anti-military organization. In Searcey v. Crim, 815 F.2d 980 (11th Cir. 1987) and Searcey v. Harris, 888 F.2d 1314 (11th Cir. 1989), the Court of Appeals ruled that if the Atlanta School District allowed military recruiters to access a school it had to allow the Atlanta Peace Alliance to have equivalent access. Specifically, the school district had to allow information about "peace jobs" on the same basis as it allowed information to be disseminated about military careers. The Court also ruled that the peace group could also present "negative factual information" about the disadvantages of military careers. In both these cases the courts found that as schools make decisions about who may and may not have access to students they generally may engage in "subject discrimination" but not in "viewpoint discrimination": while schools may limit what subjects may be discussed, they may not limit which opinions people may express about those subjects.

None of these cases is binding on the courts in New York (federal or state), because they come from the 9th and 11th circuit courts, whereas New York is in the 2nd Circuit. However, they are persuasive opinions from important circuit courts, and in some cases, schools will provide access to competing viewpoints in order to avoid the possibility of inviting viewpoint discrimination lawsuits similar to CARD and Searcey.

For New York City organizations looking to leaflet outside of schools on City sidewalks, please see the Ya-Ya Settlement(link), which includes your rights to leaflet on a sidewalk. You may not block the entire sidewalk, nor may you take up more than half of it, or block entrances or exits. You have a 1st Amendment right to leaflet outside of a school.

If your organization is denied access to students and you believe that the school or school district is discriminating based on its point of view, you should contact the NYCLU for advice and possible assistance.