Landmark Supreme Court Decisions & Catholic Schools
Does the United States Constitution prohibit government aid to Catholic school teachers, students and their families? Does a wall separating church and state cocoon Catholic school communities from receiving any public policy benefits? Certainly not! A long history of landmark Supreme Court decisions affirms that Constitutional benefits are available.
- 1925
- Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Struck down an Oregon compulsory education statute which prohibited fulfilling the state's compulsory education act at a private or parochial school.
- 1930
- Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education
Upheld a Louisiana statute that authorized the purchasing and supplying of nonsectarian textbooks by the state to parochial school pupils.
- 1947
- Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township
Upheld a New Jersey program which provided, with tax-raised funds, bus transportation services to and from school to parochial school students.
- 1968
- Board of Education v. Allen
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.
- 1971
- Lemon v. Kurtzman
Invalidated Pennsylvania and Rhode Island statutes which provided state reimbursement to private and parochial schools for secular textbooks and instructional materials, and for salary supplements for teachers of secular subjects.
- 1975
- Meek v. Pittenger (overruled by Helms)
Upheld in part a Pennsylvania statute that provided textbooks and auxiliary services to students attending private and religious schools, but struck down the part of the statute that provided for the loan of instructional materials and equipment.
- 1977
- Wolman v. Walter (overruled by Helms)
Upheld an Ohio statute providing textbooks and diagnostic and therapeutic services to private and parochial schools, but struck down the provision of instructional materials, equipment and field trip transportation.
- 1983
- Mueller v. Allen
Upheld the constitutionality of a Minnesota statute which provides an income tax deduction for tuition, textbooks, and transportation for parents of children attending public, private and religious schools.
- 1986
- Witters v. Washington Dept. of Services for the Blind
Upheld an educational assistance program in Washington State, which allowed a visually-impaired student to use a vocational-tuition grant to attend a religious college.
- 1993
- Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District
Authorized an Arizona school district under a federal program (IDEA) to place a publicly funded sign language interpreter in a Catholic high school to assist a disabled student.
- 1997
- Agostini v. Felton
Upheld the provision of Title I services by publicly-employed teachers on religious school campuses during regular school hours. Reversed Aguilar v. Felton (1985), which had held the program unconstitutional.
- 2000
- Mitchell v. Helms
Upheld the provision of computers and other educational materials, through the federal Title VI program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, to students attending private and parochial schools. Overruled Meek v. Pittenger, and Wolman v. Walter.