I Coleman Week 7 Assignment.docx

Week 7.4 - Assignment: Exploring Issues in School Law Inger R. Coleman Educational Leadership, University of North Texas EDLE 5390 Campus Level School Law Professor- Dr. William Camp 07/23/2023

Question 1 How has the present Supreme Court reversed its earlier stand on separation of Church and State as guaranteed by the “Establishment Clause”? How has interpretation of the “Free Exercise Clause” been used in this change? Use (more recent) statutes, administrative law, and cases to discuss this answer. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court made it known that there’s not much allowance for the separation of church and state in its regressive constitutional framework. For almost seven decades, the court has recognized that both First Amendment’s religion clauses are vital to protecting religious freedom: The Establishment Clause protects against governmental endorsement and imposition of religion, and the Free Exercise Clause ensures the right to practice your faith without harming others, but that is no longer. The court has increasingly treated the Establishment Clause as a movement of history. In Carson v. Makin, the court held for the first time that a state must fund religious activity as part of an educational aid program. For many years, the court rejected attempts to direct government funds to religious uses. In the Carson case six justices disregarded these historical church-state concerns. According to the court, state funding of religious indoctrination is not only permissible, but now required in some circumstances. The Carson majority firmly placed the free-exercise rights of the Christian plaintiffs over the Establishment Clause rights of the broader public. (Mach&Weaver, 2023) Question 2 Can schools limit religious groups’ access to the schools? Does it make a difference if it occurs during school or when school is not in session? Cite works you use. Courts have defined four different types of forums: traditional, designated, limited, and nonpublic. School district property is almost never considered a traditional public forum (Chiu v.

Plano Independent School District, 260 F.3d 330 (5th Cir. 2001). Even if it were, the district could exclude content if the district asserts a compelling governmental interest that is narrowly tailored to address that interest, a standard referred to as the strict scrutiny standard. Acting as a nonpublic forum, a school can limit access to any outside group if they are consistent with the rules. However, if the school opens its grounds to public use, there are designations as either a designated public forum or a limited public forum. (2022) Question 3 Can school leaders limit the religious content in schools including graduation ceremonies or handing our religious materials from student to student? Can band directors or choir directors use religious-based music in school performances? Public school students have a right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature that is unrelated to school curricula or activities. Schools may impose the same reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions on distribution of religious literature as they do on non-school literature generally, but they may not target religious literature for more permissive or more restrictive regulation (2023). School officials may not mandate or organize religious baccalaureate ceremonies. On the other hand, if a school makes its facilities and related services available to other private groups, it must make its facilities and services available on the same terms to organizers of privately sponsored religious baccalaureate ceremonies. In addition, a school may disclaim official sponsorship or approval of events held by private groups, provided it does so in a manner that neither favors nor disfavors groups that meet to engage in prayer or religious speech (2023). It is an allowable act to study religious influences on philosophy, art, music, literature, and social studies. Public schools may allow student choirs, or bands, to perform music inspired by or based

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on religious themes or texts as part of school-sponsored activities and events in the event that the music is not performed as a religious exercise and is not used to promote or favor religion (2023). Question 4 Can state provide assistance to private, religiously affiliated schools? Discuss five cases that clarify this issue. Approximately ten percent of the nation’s grade school aged children attended parochial schools. The free exercise clause protects a student’s right to attend such schools, but state efforts to support parochial schools through programs have been tested under the establishment clause of the First Amendment (Davis, 2009). Five Cases Surrounding this issue: Cochran v. Louisiana (1930) - the Court allowed Louisiana to use state funds to purchase secular textbooks for religious and public schools. The Court held that the program benefited individual school children rather than religious schools. This “child benefit” theory remained a staple in numerous subsequent decisions (Davis,2009) Everson v. Board of Education (1947) - the first case to incorporate the establishment clause under the Fourteenth Amendment, examined a Ewing, New Jersey, program to reimburse parents of children attending parochial schools for transportation costs. In a 5-4 vote to uphold the practice, the Court followed the “child benefit” doctrine of Cochran, reasoning that the benefit went to students, not the religious schools (Davis, 2009).

Board of Education v. Allen (1968) - the Court considered a New York education law requiring the state to provide textbooks to children in all private and public schools. It upheld the program on the theory that no direct benefit flowed to the religious institutions. Of importance, the books could be reviewed in advance, ensuring that they cover only secular subjects and therefore not be used for religious purposes (Davis, 2009). Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist (1973) - New York provided grants to sectarian groups to create and develop school facilities in low-income neighborhoods. The legislation also provided tuition reimbursement to parents who sent their children to parochial schools. The Court declared the law to be unconstitutional on the ground that it had the effect of aiding religion (Davis, 2009). Meek v. Pittenger (1975) - the Court struck down attempts by Pennsylvania to aid its parochial schools. This case involved various forms of aid to religious schools, including remedial services for handicapped students and instructional materials, such as films and projectors. The Court, per Allen, permitted the state to purchase textbooks for students but denied the other forms of aid because they could be used to advance religion (Davis, 2009). Question 5 Reading What are the five most important things you have learned from Week's reading assignments from chapter 8 in your textbook and the required reading assignments? Working in such a small school district has proven to be a bit of a handicap in terms of the information learned in this week’s coursework. I educate students on the grounds of locked residential treatment centers, so I had no knowledge of the differentiation between public and limited public forums. Furthermore, I had no knowledge of the way that public schools can

disseminate religious literature and use elements of religious art if it is not promoting or favoring religion but to instead study religious influence. It was interesting to learn how state can provide assistance to religiously affiliated schools. I do not often lend much thought to that sector of education so, that was interesting to discover.

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Resources Chiu v. Plano Independent School District, No. 02-41218. Davis, D. H. (2009). Aid to parochial schools . Aid to Parochial Schools. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/902/aid-to-parochial-schools Mach, D., & Weaver, H. (2023, June 27). The Supreme Court benches the separation of Church and state: ACLU . American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/religious- liberty/the-supreme-court-benches-the-separation-of-church-and-state#:~:text=No%20more Texas Association of School Boards. (2022, July). Religion in the Public Schools July 2022 - TASB . tasb.org. https://www.tasb.org/services/legal-services/tasb-school-law- esource/community/religion-in-the-public-schools/documents/religion-in-public- schools.pdf US Department of Education (ED). (2023, May 15). Guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public elementary and Secondary Schools . Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html#:~:text=Sc hools%20may%20impose%20the%20same,permissive%20or%20more%20restrictive %20regulation.