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Wolman v. Walter

Supreme Court of the United States · 1977 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawEstablishment Clausestate aid to sectarian schoolsEstablishment ClauseFirst AmendmentFourteenth Amendmentstate aidsectarian schools

Facts

Ohio enacted § 3317.06 after Meek v. Pittenger to authorize aid to nonpublic school pupils, including secular textbooks, instructional materials and equipment, standardized testing and scoring, diagnostic services, therapeutic and remedial services, and field trip transportation. Funds were appropriated to public school districts, which would provide services and goods to nonpublic school pupils, with per-pupil spending capped by public-school equivalents. The parties stipulated that nearly all nonpublic schools in Ohio were sectarian, most students attended sectarian schools, and the schools taught required secular subjects but also had a religious mission and environment. The statute barred use of aid in religious courses or activities, but some services would occur on nonpublic school premises while others would occur at public schools, public centers, or mobile units off the nonpublic premises.

Issue

Whether the Establishment Clause permits Ohio to provide nonpublic school pupils with textbooks, standardized testing and scoring, diagnostic services, therapeutic and remedial services, instructional materials and equipment, and field trip transportation. More specifically, the question was which forms of aid have a primary effect of advancing religion or create excessive government entanglement with religion under the Court's Establishment Clause precedents.

Rule

Under the Establishment Clause, a statute is valid only if it has a secular legislative purpose, a principal or primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and does not foster excessive government entanglement with religion. Applying that framework, neutral aid may be permissible where the state controls its content or provides it in a way that avoids sectarian use and avoids intrusive supervision, but aid is unconstitutional when it substantially supports the educational function of sectarian schools, is inseparable from the sectarian enterprise, or requires close surveillance to ensure religious neutrality.

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

The Illinois legislature creates a program under which the Chicago public school district purchases algebra, history, and grammar textbooks already approved for use in its public schools and loans them, on individual request, to students attending private religious middle schools in Chicago. The books are limited by regulation to bound books, reusable workbooks, and manuals used as the principal text for a class, and no other classroom supplies are included.

If challenged under the Establishment Clause, how should a court most likely rule?

Explanation. The majority upheld textbook loans where the books were secular textbooks approved for public-school use and loaned to individual students or parents. The Court treated textbooks as distinct from other instructional materials and found the program sufficiently limited against religious misuse. Administrative collection of individual requests through the nonpublic school for convenience did not alter that result.