School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball

1985-07-01

Headline: Publicly funded classes inside religious schools struck down as unconstitutional, blocking public-teacher instruction and leases that tied government support to sectarian elementary classrooms, affecting students who received part-time public lessons.

Holding:

Real World Impact:

Bans public school teachers from providing classes inside sectarian elementary schools at public expense.
Prevents public funds from subsidizing secular instruction in pervasively religious school facilities.
Makes it harder for districts to run joint public classes in religious school buildings.

Topics: religious schools, school funding, church-state separation, public teachers in parochial schools

Summary

Background

A city school district ran two programs that provided classes to students who attended private religious schools. The public system hired and paid teachers, supplied materials, and leased classrooms inside those nonpublic schools. Most of the participating schools were openly religious, and the classes served the same religious student bodies. Six taxpayers sued, a trial court enjoined the programs, and the case reached this Court.

Reasoning

The Court asked whether these arrangements impermissibly involved government in supporting religion. It used the familiar tests focused on purpose, effect, and entanglement but emphasized the programs’ effects. The Court found three harmful effects: (1) a real risk that public-paid teachers would convey religious messages in a pervasively religious setting; (2) a symbolic appearance that government endorsed or partnered with a religion when public classes occur inside sectarian schools; and (3) an effective subsidy of the religious schools by taking over part of their secular teaching. Because these effects made the programs operate to advance religion, the Court held they violated the constitutional ban on government support for religion and affirmed the lower courts.

Real world impact

The ruling bars the type of publicly funded instruction at issue — elementary Shared Time and Community Education classes in leased sectarian school rooms, plus the specified remedial secondary class. School districts cannot run the same public-teacher, in-school programs in pervasively religious school buildings without running afoul of the Constitution. The decision leaves districts to design alternative, neutral ways to help students without creating a government-religion link.

Dissents or concurrances

Several Justices agreed that the Community Education program was unconstitutional but dissented about the Shared Time program, arguing the record did not show indoctrination or an impermissible effect for that program.