IDEA, like Brown v. Board of Education and subsequent federal civil rights laws, affirmed that equal educational opportunity is a right. For decades, that partnership has shaped our nation’s approach to educational civil rights. But educational rights cannot be separated from educational expertise without risking the very outcomes those rights were created to secure. The other, a former assistant secretary of the Office for Civil Rights, leads a law school center committed to strengthening democracy and protecting civil rights. Our work reminds us every day that educational opportunity depends on both educational expertise and legal protections.