Supreme Court To Consider Vouchers for Religious Schools, Religious Mission in Hiring

(from Education Next and USA Today) The Supreme Court is slated to consider cases that may impact hiring as well as vouchers at some religious independent schools. 

This week the court will decide if state funds can be used to help pay for tuition at religious schools. The upcoming case comes from Montana, where parents of religious school students sued for access to a program providing tax credits for tuition assistance. Residents and businesses that donate to private scholarship organizations receive up to $150 in tax credits; the donations are used for scholarships for low-income families. "Under the current legal landscape, whether a child attending a religious school is permitted to participate in an educational choice program is based solely on the state or federal circuit within which that child happens to reside," said Scott Bullock, president and general counsel at the Institute for Justice, which brought the case. 

More from USA Today

Two upcoming cases will consider if anti-discrimination laws require a religious school to employ teachers that it believes are compromising its religious mission. In 2012, the court unanimously held that religious organizations have the freedom to “select their own ministers” under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and that the government is “forbidden from appointing ministers” under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Two separated teachers have filed separate cases against the L.A. Archdiosese, whose counsel has relied on the 2012 ruling to justify terminating the teachers. 

Education Next

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