parents of non-public school students.

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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. 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.? Decision upheld a Louisiana statute that allowed expenditure of public/ state funds to purchase and supply nonsectarian textbooks to parochial school students. . 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.? 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. 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. 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. 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. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed part of the petition and denied part: 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.? 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.? 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.? Decision upheld a Washington state program that provided a publicly funded tuition grant to a student to use at a religious college. 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.? 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.? 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 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. The Court upheld the state of Washingtonï؟½ï؟½s right to deny a tax-funded Promise Scholarship to a college student studying to be a minister because he declared a major in religious studies, and that was considered a violation of the state constitution's prohibition on financing religious instruction.? 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 ï؟½ï؟½manage and efficient and effective state-sponsored high school athletic league.ï؟½ï؟½? Although the tax credits for donations to scholarhip organizations were used primarily by students in religious schools, the Court decided that the program gives taxpayers the right to contribute their own money to organizations, no tax payer was forced to contribute and that tax credit funds were never public funds or government property.? In its unanimous decision, the court said that the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against their churches who claim termination in violation of employment discrimination laws.? ?Reaching that conclusion, the justices considered the central issue of ministerial status.? They declined to adopt a litmus test for who qualifies as a minister because do to so would require intrusion into the internal working of a church to make a judgment about its determination of an employeeï؟½ï؟½s contribution to its spiritual mission.??? . School Choice Cases Not Reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court ?