Leading Supreme Court Decisions on Faith-Based Schools

• In Event: Catholic Education in the United States: Historical and Legal Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives or purposes. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight salient United States Supreme Court decisions on faith-based schools.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework. Insofar as religion was a major factor leading to the development of what became the United States, it should not be surprising that the Founding Fathers addressed its place when they amended the Constitution. In fact, when the Constitution was amended, and ratified by the states in 1791, the First Amendment became part of the Bill of Rights. This presentation applies a critical lens to the Establishment Clause, examining the two major camps that emerged from the Supreme Court and elsewhere in the federal judiciary: separationists and accomodationists.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry. Firmly anchored in a textual analysis of numerous pertinent Supreme Court decisions, this inquiry recounts the rationale and logic behind landmark cases on religion and education.
Data sources. This inquiry draws largely on primary source documents, including over 25 federal and state court decisions. It likewise draws upon federal statutes such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
Results and substantiated conclusions. The presentation outlines the two major approaches to the Establishment Clause, featuring on one hand the supporters of the Jeffersonian metaphor that calls for erecting a “wall of separation” between church and state. Conversely, accommodationists maintain that the government is not prohibited from permitting some aid or accommodating the needs of children under the so-called “Child Benefit” test or from accommodating the religious preferences of parents who send their children to public schools. Additional findings examine the major Supreme Court cases involving state aid to faith-based schools and their students, essentially in the order in which they were litigated. These findings reviewed under the general topic headings of transportation, textbooks, secular services and salary supplements, aid to parents (divided into tuition reimbursements and income tax returns), reimbursements to faith-based schools (covering instructional materials and support services, and vouchers.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work. As faith-based schools face the future, the one certainty is that litigation will continue over the status of aid to schools, their students, and parents. The extent to which aid may be available depends on a combination of legislative action and judicial interpretation by the Supreme Court. At present, the accommodations seem to hold a slim majority of the Court. Whether a majority of the Supreme Court is willing to continue to support aid to faith-based schools bears constant watching.

Author

• Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton