Past U.S. Supreme Court rulings have held that schools and school employees must be careful to engage in religious activities while at school that could appear to endorse a particular religion above others or coerce students to engage in religious activities. However, the June 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District opinion suggests that the…

Public funding of private K-12 schooling through vouchers continues to be a contentious issue across the U.S., even though a solid majority of Americans continues to oppose them. The voucher plans run the risk of legal challenge for how they handle the rights of students with disabilities and whether they violate state constitutional provisions…

U.S. Supreme Court decisions handed down in June and July 1985 rejected the use of silent periods for religious purposes in the public schools, and restricted the use of public funds to support supplemental educational programs in parochial school settings. (PGD)

Blasts the supreme court of Washington State for its inappropriate treatment of Larry Witters, a legally blind student denied state vocational rehabilitation funds because his intended Bible studies program supposedly violated the First Amendment's establishment clause. Even a United States Supreme Court reversal failed to end Witter's…

Outlines the history of private education and the development of secular education in American public schools. Changes in growth in the private school sector seem to occur in response to public school treatment of religious values. (MD)

A federal court held that a state law requiring one minute of meditation or prayer in the public schools is legal. (IRT)

Discusses the latest Supreme Court decisions on State aid to parochial schools. (JF)

Twenty years after the Supreme Court's decision in "Abington v. Schempp," the public still needs help to understand the proper relationship between religion and public education. The "Schempp" case suggests guidelines; for example, certified school personnel should make decisions about the study of religion and such study…

Actions taken by the U.S. Supreme Court in two cases during December of 1981 tend to confirm that there is a difference in constitutional standards between K-12 and higher education when determining the rights of students to conduct prayer meetings and worship services on the premises of public institutions. (Author)

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc." may indicate a reluctance to involve federal courts in cases concerning issues such as school prayer, the science curriculum, and the selection of textbooks and library books. (Author/WD)

By overruling both "Aguilar v. Felton" and its companion case, "School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball" as inconsistent with their current understanding of the Establishment Clause, U.S. Supreme Court majority held that "a federally funded program providing supplemental, remedial instruction to disadvantaged children on a…

World events, increasing diversity in the classroom, and headlines about the latest court cases all ensure that religion will remain a sensitive and sometimes contentious issue in the public schools. Challenges readers to think about how they would respond to 12 hypothetical classroom situations involving religion. (Author/MLF)

Analyzes California case ("Newdow v. U.S. Congress") involving Constit utional challenge to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance wherein the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the phrase violated the Establishment Clause requiring state-church separation. (Contains 11 references.) (PKP)

Since the Supreme Court's 1992 "Lee v. Weisman" decision, holding that the First Amendment's establishment clause precluded school-sponsored graduation prayers, school officials have struggled to avoid lawsuits while satisfying community preferences. Efforts to circumvent this decision have resulted in "noncoercive"…

Prayer at school-sponsored events became significant issue in many communities, in wake of Supreme Court's decision in "Lee v. Weisman.""Phi Delta Kappan" survey was conducted to discover how school districts handled graduation prayer. Of 1,491 responding districts, 46% included some form of prayer at formal commencement…