Schools often have a dress code that requires school uniforms or that limits clothing styles—such as policies of no tank tops, shorts, low-cut tops, pants worn below the waistline, or suggestive, provocative, or controversial messages. Some schools extend these dress code policies to hairstyles, headwraps, hair color, and facial hair.

These policies are sometimes challenged by students on free speech grounds (under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) and on discrimination grounds. Schools are required to meet a high burden to justify restricting their students’ right to freedom of speech.

Each school policy and claim of a violation of law must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but schools are generally allowed to restrict clothing, speech, and hairstyle choices only if they would likely disrupt the educational environment of the school and interfere with school activities—including by causing tension and discord among the students or teachers.

In Georgia, as in other states, public schools have the authority to implement dress codes and uniform policies. These policies may regulate clothing, hairstyles, and other forms of personal expression. While schools can set such policies, they must balance them against students' First Amendment rights to free speech and expression. The U.S. Supreme Court has established that students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.' However, schools can impose restrictions if they can demonstrate that the expression in question would materially and substantially disrupt the operation of the school or infringe on the rights of others. This is known as the 'Tinker' standard, from the landmark case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969). When dress code policies are challenged, courts will consider whether the school's actions were reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. Claims of discrimination in dress code policies, such as those based on race, religion, or gender, are evaluated under federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Schools must ensure that their policies do not disproportionately impact any particular group of students and must make accommodations for religious or cultural attire when necessary.