Julie F. Mead is Professor Emerita in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she served from 1999-2021. Her research examines topics related to education law. She is noted for her scholarship on special education law and the various legal issues raised by voucher programs and charter schools. She has co-authored or co-edited six books and has published numerous articles in both education and law journals. She served as the 2021-22 President of the Education Law Association. She has also been active with the American Educational Research Association and University Council on Educational Administration and is a fellow with the National Education Policy Center. Dr. Mead served 4 years as ELPA Department Chair and 5 years as the Associate Dean for Education. During her twenty-two years at UW–Madison, Dr. Mead supervised 40 doctoral students and taught numerous others in various education law courses.
Dr. Mead participates in the Badger Talks program and is available for public presentations to interested groups.
Selected Publications
- Green, P.C., Saldaña, C., Baker, C.D., & Mead, J.F. (2026). Preserving rural school districts from the threat of vouchers and charters. Idaho Law Review, (62), 77-106. https://digitalcommons.law.uidaho.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1284&context=idaho-law-review
- Mead, J.F. (2026). Unpacking ‘fairness’ in Wisconsin’s special education funding – Part I. Wisconsin School News, 81(3), 10-15.https://wasb.org/october-2026-wisconsin-school-news/
- Lewis, M.M. & Mead, J.F. (2025). NEPC Review: Thousands served: Students with disabilities in Wisconsin’s parental choice programs. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. https://nepc.colorado.edu/review/disability
- Eckes, S.E., Green, P.C., & Mead, J.F. (2024). Chartering religion: Examining the implications for educators’ civil rights in religious charter schools. West’s Education Law Reporter, 424 (2), 715-726.
- Green, P.C., Mead, J.F., & Eckes, S. E. (2021). Covenants to discriminate: How the anti-LGBT policies of participating voucher schools might violate the state action doctrine. The New Hampshire University Law Review, 19, 163-195. https://scholars.unh.edu/unh_lr/vol19/iss2/1/
- Eckes, S. E., & Mead, J. F. (2020). Discriminatory practices in voucher programs. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(6), 65-67.
- Mead, J. F. (2019). School vouchers and student rights: Trading constitutional protections for contractual obligations. The Oxford Handbook of US Education Law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press Online Publication/Abstract.
- Mead, J. F., & Green, P. C. (2019). Advancing International Equity in Charter Schools. Washington, DC: The Century Foundation. Online Publication/Abstract.
- Mead, J. F., & Eckes, S. E. (2018). How School Privatization Opens the Door for Discrimination. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center Online Publication/Abstract.
- Green, P. C., Baker, B. D., Oluwole, J. O., & Mead, J. F. (2016). Are we heading toward a charter school “bubble”?: Lessons from the subprime mortgage crisis. University of Richmond Law Review, 50, 783-808.
- Mead, J. F. & Lewis, M. M. (2016). The implications of the use of parental choice as a legal “circuit breaker.” American Education Research Journal, 53, 100-131.
- Mead, J. F. (2015). The right to an education or the right to shop for schooling: Examining voucher programs in relation to state constitutional guarantees. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 42, 703-743.
- Mead, J. F. (2015). Private in name only: A statutory and constitutional analysis of Milwaukee’s private school voucher program. Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 21(2), 331-382.
- Underwood, J. & Mead, J. F. (2012). A smart ALEC threatens public education, Phi Delta Kappan, 93(6), 51-55.
- Green, P. C., Mead, J. F. & Oluwole, J. O. (2011). Parents Involved, school assignment plans, and the Equal Protection Clause: The case for special constitutional rules. Brooklyn Law Review, 76(2), 503-567.