Abstract:
Educators, parents, and students usually define curriculum as the courses the school offers and students earn credit for taking. Local school boards control the curriculum in North Carolina as long as they follow the guidelines of the State Board of Education. Teachers deliver the curriculum, but courts have established in North Carolina that they do not have the authority under the First Amendment to make changes in it, challenge or fail to follow the school board's curriculum decisions. The authors discuss the lack of First Amendment protection for teachers' curricular speech and the options schools boards have as a result of that lack of protection.