SCHOOL DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS v. BALL

Legal Principle at Issue

Whether publicly funded secular education programs taught by public school teachers in leased rooms of private religious schools, impermissibly involve the government in support of sectarian religious activities and thus violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Action

Affirmed (includes modified). Petitioning party did not receive a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

Petitioner, the School District of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, adopted two programs — Shared Time and Community Education — that provide classes to nonpublic school students at public expense in classrooms located in and leased from the nonpublic schools. The Shared Time program offered classes during the regular schoolday that were intended to supplement the "core curriculum" courses required by the state of Michigan. The Shared Time teachers were full-time employees of the public schools, but a "significant portion" of them had previously taught in nonpublic schools. The Community Education program offered classes at the conclusion of the regular schoolday in voluntary courses, some of which were not offered at the public schools while others were. Community Education teachers were part-time public school employees, who for the most part were otherwise employed full-time by the same nonpublic school in which their Community Education classes were held. Of the 41 private schools involved in these programs, 40 were identifiably religious schools.

Respondent taxpayers filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against the school district and certain state officials, alleging the programs violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court agreed, entered a judgment for respondents, and enjoined further operation of the programs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed.