We need not assume that the State's textbook aid to private schools has been motivated by other than a sincere interest in the educational welfare of all Mississippi children. . All textbook transactions will be carried out between the Board and the administrative heads of these schools. Thus, MR. JUSTICE WHITE, the author of the Court's opinion in Allen, supra, and a dissenter in Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, noted there that in his view, legislation providing assistance to any sectarian school which restricted entry on racial or religious grounds would, to that extent, be unconstitutional. Appellants, who are parents of four school children in Tunica County, Mississippi, filed a class action on behalf of students throughout Mississippi to enjoin in part the enforcement of the Mississippi textbook lending program.
1003, 1007 (ND Miss.1972). 1019 (ND Miss.1970), aff'd, 440 F.2d 377 (CA5 1971). The state can be considered to encourage and facilitate segregation through its educational funding programs. Thank you and the best of luck to you on your LSAT exam. 833, 854 (ED La.1967). Therefore, the disqualification for benefits imposes a burden on the free exercise of Appellant’s religion. Held. Free textbooks, like tuition grants directed to students in private schools, are a form of tangible financial assistance benefiting the schools themselves, and the State's constitutional obligation requires it to avoid not only operating the old dual system of racially segregated schools but also providing tangible aid to schools that practice racial or other invidious discrimination. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Even if the state did not intend to discriminate, the discriminatory effect is sufficient to find that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment. We note, however, that overall state-wide attendance figures do not fully and accurately reflect the impact of private schools in particular school districts. In dismissing the complaint, the District Court stressed, first, that the statutory scheme was not motivated by a desire to further racial segregation in the public schools, having been enacted first in 1940, long before this Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954), and, consequently, long before there was any occasion to have a policy or reason to foster the development of racially segregated private academies. The District Court held no more stringent standard should apply on the facts of this case, since, as in Allen, the books were provided to the students, and not to the schools.
Argued November 20, 1946. et al. We construe the complaint as contemplating an individual determination as to each private school in Mississippi whose students now receive textbooks.
MR. JUSTICE Douglas and MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN concur in the result. You have successfully signed up to receive the Casebriefs newsletter. The law did not place restrictions on loaning textbooks to private schools that discriminated on the basis of race. Even as to church-sponsored schools whose policies are nondiscriminatory, any absolute right to equal aid was negated, at least by implication, in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971). ", 340 F. Supp.
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See Norwood v. Harrison, 340 F. Supp. It shall be the duty of these local custodians to render all reports required by the State; to place orders for textbooks for the pupils in their schools. 1. ", "Private Schools. Unlock your Study Buddy for the 14 day, no risk, unlimited use trial. ", Appellees fail to recognize the limited scope of Pierce when they urge that the right of parents to send their children to private schools under that holding is at stake in this case. Racial discrimination in state-operated schools is barred by the Constitution and, "[i]t is also axiomatic that a state may not induce, encourage or promote private persons to accomplish what it is constitutionally forbidden to accomplish.". Id. We reiterated the same idea in Zorach v.
A class action was brought by the parents of children in Mississippi schools to end this state program. The program dates back to a 1940 appeal for improved educational facilities by the Governor of Mississippi to the state legislature. Textbooks are a basic educational tool and, like tuition grants, they are provided only in connection with schools; they are to be distinguished from generalized services government might provide to schools in common with others. 1003 (ND Miss.1972). Pp. Furthermore, according to the court, the school officials were cooperating with the organization in “promoting religious instruction.” On the basis of these findings, the court held that the program was “beyond all question” using “the tax-established and tax-supported public school system” to help “religious groups spread their faith.” This was in direct violation of the First Amendment, which “erected a wall between Church and State which must be kept high and impregnable.” Accordingly, the court found that the religious-instruction program was unconstitutional. [Footnote 10] However narrow may be the channel of permissible state aid to sectarian schools, Nyquist, supra; Levitt, supra, it permits a greater degree of state assistance than may be given to private schools which engage in discriminatory practices that would be unlawful in a public school system. Judgment of the highest state court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. that discriminates -- fulfills an important educational function; however, the difference is that in the context of this case the legitimate educational function cannot be isolated from discriminatory practices -- if such in fact, exist. (barring discrimination in private housing transactions). Private schools have the right to exist and to operate, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510, but the State is not required by the Equal Protection Clause to provide assistance to private schools equivalent to that it provides to public schools without regard to whether the private schools discriminate on racial grounds. See Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510 (1925). It was rather enacted to assist parents of all religions with getting their children to school. The earlier and higher figures are found in the briefs, and are not disputed. Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U. S. 1, and Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U. S. 236, distinguished. Pp. MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court. The ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court was reversed. McCollum v. Board of Education of School District (No. Private schools in Mississippi have experienced a marked growth in recent years. Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas.
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