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Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Regan

Supreme Court of the United States · 1980 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawEstablishment ClauseState Aid to Religious SchoolsEstablishment ClauseFirst AmendmentFourteenth Amendmentnonpublic schoolssectarian schools

Facts

After the Court in Levitt I invalidated New York's 1970 reimbursement statute, New York enacted a 1974 law reimbursing nonpublic schools only for actual costs incurred in complying with specified state-mandated testing and reporting requirements. Unlike the earlier law, the 1974 statute excluded reimbursement for teacher-prepared tests and covered only state-prepared examinations and reporting procedures, including the pupil evaluation program, Regents examinations, and attendance and basic educational data reports. Some tests were graded by the State, while others were graded by nonpublic school personnel, but the District Court found the schools had no control over test content or outcomes because the tests were secular, state-drafted, and largely objective, with review procedures for any essay components. The statute also required separate accounting, submission of documentation, audits by the Commissioner and the State Department of Audit and Control, and repayment of any excess reimbursement over actual costs.

Issue

Whether New York's statute authorizing direct cash reimbursement to church-sponsored and other nonpublic schools for the actual costs of administering, grading, and reporting results of state-prepared secular tests, and for ministerial recordkeeping and attendance-reporting services mandated by state law, violates the Establishment Clause of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Rule

A statute reimbursing nonpublic schools for actual costs of performing state-mandated services does not violate the Establishment Clause if it has a secular legislative purpose, its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion, and it does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion. Reimbursement is permissible where the covered services are secular, the nonpublic school does not control the content or result of the state-prepared tests, the services cannot be used to foster religious instruction, and effective auditing ensures that public funds pay only for actual secular costs.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Ohio enacts a statute reimbursing nonpublic schools in Cleveland and Toledo for the actual documented cost of administering statewide algebra and reading exams written by the state education department. The exams are entirely multiple-choice, schools must keep separate accounts, and state auditors may inspect records and recover any overpayment.

A church-operated school challenges the statute under the Establishment Clause. How should a court rule?

Explanation. The majority upheld reimbursement where the covered services were secular and discrete, the tests were state-prepared, and the nonpublic school did not control the content or result of the tests. The Court also emphasized safeguards such as separate accounting, documentation, audits, and repayment of excess funds. It rejected a categorical rule that cash reimbursement is invalid merely because it is paid directly to religious schools.