"Zelman's" Evolving Legacy: Selective Funding of Secular Private Schools in State School Choice Programs

Proponents of school choice widely celebrated the United States Supreme Court's decision in Zelman v Simmons-Harris, upholding Cleveland's school voucher program against an Establishment Clause challenge. This note examines the major legal issues raised by the current school choice challen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Virginia law review 2003-12, Vol.89 (8), p.1953-2004
Main Author: Smith, Colleen Carlton
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Church & state
Constitutional law
Educational vouchers
Establishment clause
First Amendment
First Amendment-US
Government subsidies
Private schools
Religion
Religious education
Religious laws
Religious schools
Scholarship funds
School choice
Supreme Court decisions
Tuition
Vouchers
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Summary:Proponents of school choice widely celebrated the United States Supreme Court's decision in Zelman v Simmons-Harris, upholding Cleveland's school voucher program against an Establishment Clause challenge. This note examines the major legal issues raised by the current school choice challenges, exploring in particular the implications for independent state constitutionalism. It first provides a brief exposition of school choice programs in three states - Maine, Vermont, and Florida - currently under attack in both state and federal courts. It then focuses primarily on the First Amendment challenges to these programs and evaluates, in turn, the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause issues presented. Then it examines the issues raised under the Equal Protection Clause, focusing on the level of review required for classifications based on religion and whether states may preserve school choice policy decisions by articulating a government interest sufficiently compelling to survive the appropriate level of review.
ISSN:0042-6601
1942-9967
DOI:10.2307/3202370