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U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
Supreme Court Decisions On
Religious
School Issues
A series of US Supreme Court cases have impacted the way in which the federal government and states may provides services and benefits to parents and students in private and religious schools. Cases are listed in chronological order.
1925 - Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
This landmark decision over-turned an Oregon law that would have required all children to attend only the public schools. The decision affirmed the right of parents to choose the type of education they wanted for their children and also affirmed the right of the state to reasonably regulate private schools. The Court ruled that:
The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.
1930 - Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education
Decision upheld a Louisiana statute that allowed expenditure of public/ state funds to purchase and supply nonsectarian textbooks to parochial school students.
1947 - Everson v. Board of Education
Decision upheld a New Jersey program that established the precedent that a state may provide, with public money, bus transportation services to and from school to students in parochial schools.
1968 - Board of Education v. Allen
Decision upheld a New York textbook law authorizing the lending of textbooks free of charge to all children, including those attending parochial schools, in grades seven through twelve.
1970 - Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York
Decision held that the New York statute exempting from real property tax realty owned by an association organized exclusively for religious purposes and uses for carrying out such purposes is not an unconstitutional attempt to establish, support or sponsor religion or as an interference with free exercise of religion.
1971 - Lemon v. Kurtzman and Earley v. Dicenso
Decision invalidated Pennsylvania and Rhode Island statutes which provided for the purchase with state money of secular educational services from parochial schools, and which permitted salary supplements to nonpublic school teachers of secular subjects.
1973 - Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Nyquist
Decision rendered unconstitutional a New York state tax provision that granted a tuition tax credit benefit to only one class of citizens, parents of non-public school students.
1975 - Meek v. Pittenger
The Court upheld programs that utilized public funds and/or employees to provide students in private schools with textbook loans and approved instructional materials and various auxiliary services (speech, hearing) had neither the primary effect of aiding religion or danger of fostering excessive government entanglement with religion where services were provided to specific children on an individualized basis.
The Court invalidated the instructional equipment loan program to the extent that it sanctioned the loan of equipment "which from its nature can be diverted to religious purposes", such as movie projectors that could be used to show sectarian films.
1983 - Mueller v. Allen
Decision upheld as constitutional a Minnesota statute that allows an income tax deduction for tuition, textbooks, and transportation that benefited parents of children attending public, private and religious schools.
1985 - Aguilar v. Felton
Decision held that the program under which the City of New York used federal ESEA Title I funds to pay the salaries of public school employees who taught in parochial schools violated the establishment clause since the scope and duration of the program would require pervasive state presence in sectarian schools to monitor the content of the Title I classes.
1985 - Grand Rapids v. Ball
Decision declared the practice of shared time and community education programs, which provided classes to nonpublic school students at public expense in classrooms located in and leased from nonpublic schools, violated the First Amendment because it has the primary effect of advancing religion.
1986 - Witters v. Washington Dept. of Services for the Blind
Decision upheld a Washington state program that provided a publicly funded tuition grant to a student to use at a religious college.
1993 - Zorbrest v. Catalina Foothills School District
Decision authorized an Arizona school district to place a publicly funded sign language interpreter in a Catholic high school to assist a disabled student under the federal disabilities education program IDEA. The decision allowed for, but did not mandate IDEA services to be provided in a private or religious schools.
1997 - Agostini v. Felton
Decision reversed the earlier Supreme Court decision in Aguilar v Felton. The decision permits publicly-employed teachers to provide remedial educational assistance under Title I programs on religious school campuses during regular school hours or in enrichment programs after school hours.
2000 - Mitchell v. Helms
Decision upheld as constitutional Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that provided allows the use of federal funds to supply computer hardware and software and library and media materials to religiously affiliated schools. The 6-3 majority ruled that the aid was constitutional so long as is: (1) "allocated on the basis of secular, neutral criteria" (2) supplementary and does not supplant non-federal funds and (3) provided to the school through a public agency in the form of materials and services and not in actual dollars.
2002 - Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
- The decision upheld the constitutionality of the Cleveland Scholarship Program that provides financial assistance to parents to use for tuition at private or out of district public schools or for tutoring services. [More Information]
2004- Locke v. Davey
This case concerns a college student who met the eligibility criteria for a Washington state scholarship, but was denied it because he declared a major in religious studies, and that was considered a violation of the state constitution's prohibition on financing religious instruction.
Davey sued, claiming the constitutional provision a violation of his right to the free exercise of region guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. He was denied and appealed to the Supreme Court that heard arguments in December 2003.
The Court upheld the state of Washington’s right to deny a tax-funded Promise Scholarship to a college student studying to be a minister.
The Court issued a very narrow opinion, citing historical precedents in the state constitution that preclude state financing of clergymen's salaries, and other support for the ministry that could be construed as an establishment of religion.
The fundamental issue that the Court chose to address in Davey was whether the state had discretion to exclude, on the basis of its own constitution, certain religious studies without sanctioning discrimination against religion. Although it was a particular burden on Davey to lose his scholarship, it was not a compelling state interest to fund his "devotional theology degree in an otherwise inclusive scholarship aid program."
The Court opined "there are some state actions permitted by the Establishment Clause but not required by the Free Exercise Clause." The opinion was very specific about the limits of the case, citing the state constitutional ban on supporting ministry. The Court indicated that Zelman was not affected, and that, consistent with the federal constitution, Washington State could have allowed Davey to use his scholarship under the establishment clause, but the state was not required to do so under the free exercise clause.
Specifically, the Court noted that Locke v. Davey was not a Blaine Amendment case, leaving open the possibility that such a case that would expose a history of bigotry and bias against religion would be subject to different legal scrutiny.
2007-
Tennessee
Secondary School Athletic Association v.
Brentwood
Academy
A private school was sanctioned by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) when a coach sent an eight grade student who had been accepted and signed a contract to attend the high school the following September. The Association claimed such action violated its recruiting rule. The school claimed the rule was content-based regulation of free speech.
The Court found for the Association because the school voluntarily joined the TSSAA and had to abide by its anti-recruiting rules that were necessary to “manage and efficient and effective state-sponsored high school athletic league.”
School Choice Cases Not Reviewed by the US Supreme Court
Milwaukee: Voucher Case
1998: Jackson v. Benson -- challenge to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program that allowed publicly funded vouchers to be used in sectarian schools. The Court declined to hear the case, allowing the Wisconsin Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the program to stand.
Arizona: Tax Credit Case
1999: Kotterman v. Killian -- challenged the Arizona tax credit law that allows taxpayers to claim a credit for donations to a nonprofit organization that distributes scholarships or tuition grants to private and parochial schools or for fees paid to a public school for extra-curricular activities. The Court allowed to stand the Arizona Supreme Court ruling that found the law does not violate state and federal constitutional prohibitions against government aid to religion.
Maine: Tuitioning Cases
1999: Bagley v. Raymond School Department - the Court declined to hear the case from the Maine Supreme Court that had ruled that Maine's exclusion of religious schools from its school choice program was required by the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to review a similar decision of the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals in Strout v. Albanese, which raised the same issue.
In Maine, where many towns or remote areas do not have high schools of their own, parents send their children to public schools or private schools with tuition paid by the state. A Maine law prohibits payment of tuition to "sectarian" schools.
Vermont: Exclusion of Religious Schools from Tuitioning
1999: Andrews v. Vermont Department of Education - U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court, which rejected a claim by Vermont parents that their federal free-exercise rights were being violated by the refusal of the state to include religious schools in the state's "tuitioning" program. The state court held that school districts in the state could not make tuition payments to sectarian schools "in the absence of adequate safeguards against the use of such funds for religious worship."
In Vermont, 88 of the state's 290 school districts do not operate a public high school. For 130 years, the state has allowed students in those districts to attend a public or private high school with the tuition paid by the student's home district. When some Chittenden parents asked the local school board to pay for their children to attend a Catholic high school, the local board agreed but the state Board of Education objected, precipitating the lawsuit.
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National Catholic Educational Association
