In addition to the Nampa Classical Academy denial, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday also declined to hear the Poway Unified School District case. There a teacher challenged the school district's requirement that he remove his classroom banners with phrases like "God Shed His Grace on Thee." The 9th Circuit last year upheld the school district's policy, and the Supreme Court's denial leaves that ruling in place. Education Week has more:

"Because the speech at issue owes its existence to Johnson's position as a teacher, Poway acted well within constitutional limits in ordering Johnson not to speak in a manner it did not desire," the 9th Circuit court said.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Johnson said his case would present a good vehicle for clarifying the speech rights of teachers. But the school district argued in its brief that teachers in elementary and secondary schools have no "academic freedom" in their classroom speech and that there was no split in authority on that among the federal appeals courts.