Case Title: Chittenden Town School District v. VT Dept. of Education

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1999-06-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
Chittenden Town School District v. VT Dept. of Education  Chittenden Town School Dist. v. Dept. of Education (97-275); 169 Vt. 310; 738 A.2d 539[Filed 11-Jun-1999] NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press. No. 97-275Chittenden Town School District Supreme Court and Cynthia Andrews, et al., Intervenors On Appeal from v. Rutland Superior CourtVermont Department of Education March Term, 1998 and Elizabeth Sojourner, et al., IntervenorsAlden T. Bryan, J. John A. Facey, III of Reiber, Kenlan, Schwiebert, Hall & Facey, Rutland, and William H. Mellor, III, Clint Bolick and Richard D. Komer, Institute for Justice, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellant. William H. Meub and Orland Campbell, Jr., of Keyser, Crowley, Meub, Layden, Kulig & Sullivan, P.C., Rutland, for Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellants Cynthia Andrews, et al. William H. Sorrell, Attorney General, Mark J. Di Stefano, Assistant Attorney General, and Paul C. Fassler and Karen L. Richards, Special Assistant Attorneys General, Montpelier, for Defendant-Appellee. Mitchell L. Pearl of Langrock Sperry & Wool, Middlebury, and Joel D. Cook, Vermont-NEA, Montpelier, for Defendants-Intervenors-Appellees Elizabeth Sojourner, et al. A. Jeffrey Taylor, Rutland, Martin S. Kaplan and Stephen A. Jonas of Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, Massachusetts, and Lisa Thurau, New York, New York for Amicus Curiae National Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty. PRESENT: Dooley, Morse and Johnson, JJ., and Allen, C.J. (Ret.) and Gibson, J. (Ret.), Specially Assigned DOOLEY, J. In this declaratory judgment action, we are again called upon to consider the constitutional implications of the Vermont statutes authorizing school districts to provide high school education to their students by paying tuition for nonpublic schools selected by their parents. See 16 V.S.A. §§ 822 and 824. In Campbell v. Manchester Board of School Directors, 161 Vt. 441, 641 A.2d 352 (1994), we concluded that the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution was not an impediment to the reimbursement at public expense of tuition paid to a sectarian school in the circumstances of the case then presented. See id. at 447-48, 456, 641 A.2d at 356-57, 361 (overruling our prior holding to the contrary in Swart v. South Burlington Sch. Dist., 122 Vt. 177, 167 A.2d 514 (1961)). Today we confront a question explicitly reserved in Campbell, see id. at 447-48 n.5, 641 A.2d at 356 n.5: whether the tuition reimbursement scheme transgresses the Compelled Support Clause of the Vermont Constitution, Vt. Const. Ch. I., art. 3, which speaks not to establishment of religion but to state support of religious worship. The superior court ruled in favor of the Department of Education and the intervenors aligned with the department, basing its analysis on the federal Establishment Clause. We focus on the Vermont Constitution and conclude that a school district violates Chapter I, Article 3 when it reimburses tuition for a sectarian school under § 822 in the absence of adequate safeguards against the use of such funds for religious worship. Because of the absence of such safeguards in this case, we affirm the judgment of the superior court. I. Background The case was submitted to the superior court on stipulated facts, which we summarize in relevant part. Plaintiff Chittenden Town School District has ninety-five students in grades nine through twelve. It does not maintain a high school for the education of these secondary students. Instead, it pays tuition to public high schools or approved independent schools for this purpose, as explicitly authorized by 16 V.S.A. § 822. Pursuant to §§ 822(a)(1) and 824(b), parents of the students may select an approved school to which to send their children. Until the 1996-97 school year, the Chittenden School Board authorized tuition payments only for public high schools or approved secondary schools that it found to be nonsectarian. In the 1995-96 school year, it paid tuition for seventy-five secondary school students. Of these, seventy-two attended one of the five public high schools operating in Rutland County, and three attended approved private secondary schools. In December of 1995, the Chittenden School Board adopted a new secondary-education tuition-reimbursement policy that would allow tuition to be paid to sectarian schools. One approved independent sectarian secondary school operates in Rutland County. That school is Mount Saint Joseph Academy (MSJ), a parochial high school located in the City of Rutland. MSJ is owned and operated by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, under the authority of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. MSJ is an institution in which the secular and sectarian aspects of its educational program are intertwined. Its statement of philosophy reveals that its academic program incorporates religious and moral education through a broad range of curricular and co-curricular activities and that "[w]e believe that learning occurs in an atmosphere where faith and community are emphasized and overtly practiced. . . ." Consistent with its educational philosophy, MSJ requires instruction in theology, constituting four of twenty-three credits required for graduation. The four theology courses are entitled "Salvation History," "Sacraments," "Ethics" and "Commitment." The description of the theology curriculum at MSJ states: During a four year period, the development of spirituality is found through liturgy, prayer, retreat and experiential learning activities. . . . Through the historical and biblical study of our faith roots, presentations, and discussions on the Gospels and lives of Christian leaders, students build a foundation for the development of their individual spiritual lives. Among the expected outcomes of the theology education and the religious life activities of the school are that the students will "witness a sense of Catholic identity" and will "continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and work towards fulfilling the kingdom through service/ministry/action. . . ." The MSJ school day begins with a prayer, to which all students are required to give quiet attention. Once a month, the entire school attends a celebration of the Roman Catholic mass led by a priest. Non-Catholics must attend, but are not required to participate in the sacrament. All students must attend annual spiritual retreats, which include prayers and a mass. All students must attend a twice-annual celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation; participation in the sacrament is not required. MSJ faculty are required to adhere to Catholic doctrine in their teachings and must demonstrate and exemplify the values of the Catholic faith by striving to live and teach the Gospel messages of Jesus. The principal of MSJ is a Roman Catholic nun. Of the twenty-seven teachers, four are nuns or priests. Although we have been required by the issue before us to examine the sectarian aspects of education at MSJ, we emphasize that the record indicates that MSJ is a very good high school. Ninety-one percent of MSJ's class of 1996 went on to college. In recent years, the percentage has been 83% to 93%. Of the 206 students enrolled in MSJ for the 1996-97 school year, 164 were Roman Catholics and the remainder were of different faiths. In May 1996, the Chittenden School Board specifically approved payment of tuition to MSJ. Fifteen Chittenden students were enrolled in MSJ for the 1996-97 school year. The Chittenden Town School District funds secondary education through a combination of revenues raised by the local property tax and aid to education received from the State of Vermont. For the 1996-97 school year, it intended to use $39,000 in public funds to pay tuition at MSJ. MSJ has a three-tiered tuition policy, charging $3,000 annually to non-Catholics; $2,775 to Catholics who reside in the Diocese, but not in the City of Rutland; and $2,525 to Catholics who reside in the City of Rutland. MSJ projected its per-pupil cost of education at $5,021 for 1996-97. The Diocese and local Rutland parishes would make up the bulk of the difference. When the Chittenden School Board voted to allow tuition reimbursement to MSJ, the Commissioner of Education terminated state aid to education to the district. The Chittenden Town School District then brought this action against the Commissioner and the Vermont Department of Education, asserting, among other claims,(FN1) that tuition reimbursement to MSJ was constitutional and seeking an order to restore state-aid funding. Defendants counterclaimed that the Chittenden decision to make tuition payments to MSJ violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution. They also sought an injunction. The superior court authorized two groups of intervenors. One group, aligned with plaintiff, consists of parents who are sending children to MSJ for secondary education and seek payment of the MSJ tuition by the Chittenden Town School District. The other group, aligned with defendants, consists of residents of the Town of Chittenden who oppose the use of their state and local tax payments to fund sectarian education.(FN2) On October 17, 1996, the superior court entered a temporary order based on the stipulation of the parties. The temporary order prohibited the Chittenden Town School District from making any tuition payments to MSJ and required the Department of Education to continue to make state-aid-to-education payments to the district. On June 27, 1997, the superior court issued its opinion and order, concluding that "tuition payments from a school district to pervasively sectarian high schools, or the parents of the children who attend, would have the effect of a direct subsidy to religious schools in violation of the United States and Vermont Constitutions." The court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment and continued the temporary order pending appeal. It held, however, that if this Court reversed its decision, it would order the State to reimburse the Chittenden parents for tuition already paid to MSJ. Plaintiffs have appealed from the court's decision, contending that (1) tuition payment to sectarian schools does not violate either the United States Constitution or the Vermont Constitution as long it is based on a parent's free choice of educational provider, and (2) exclusion of sectarian schools from reimbursement violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Defendants have responded that Chittenden's tuition-reimbursement policy violates both applicable constitutions and that exclusion of reimbursement for sectarian schools does not violate the United States Constitution. Defendants have cross-appealed the superior court's decision to order tuition reimbursement in the event its main holding is reversed. (FN3) As we analyze the dispute before us, we cannot but share the feelings of Chief Justice Williams of this Court, who in 1834 wrote the first decision interpreting Article I, § 3 of the Vermont Constitution. The question was whether this Court would enforce a contract made on the Sabbath. Chief Justice Williams found that the question was clearly resolved by "principles of law which have been known, acknowledged, and never controverted," but added: We are aware, however, that the subject under consideration is one which is liable to be viewed too much on either side through the medium of feeling; and any judicial investigation of it may be regarded as treading upon forbidden ground. A decision one way may be regarded as promoting irreligion, licentiousness and immorality; and a decision the other way be considered as encroaching upon religious freedom. Lyon v. Strong, 6 Vt. 219, 221 (1834). Over one hundred and sixty years later, the background of this case is similar. We emphasize that this is not a decision about the value of religious education or of education about religion. From what we can determine on this limited record, religious education is thriving in this state and providing a high quality education to many students. Nor is this a decision about the value of parental choice in determining where and how children will receive education services. Whether parental choice improves the quality of education for some or all students must be determined by the executive and legislative branches, not this Court. Our challenge is to apply legal principles derived from the Vermont and/or United States Constitutions to determine whether governmental payment for religious education is constitutional if parents have free choice to send their children to any approved educational institution, public or private, secular or sectarian. II. Overview of Statutory Scheme Before reaching the constitutional questions, we find it helpful to look at the controlling statutes. The basic scheme is quite simple. Since the Chittenden Town School District provides elementary education, it is required to provide secondary education. See 16 V.S.A. § 822(a). It has a number of options in meeting this obligation. The two main ones are to maintain a public high school or to pay tuition "to an approved public or independent high school, to be selected by the parents or guardians of the pupil, within or without the state." Id. § 822(a), (b).(FN4) Chittenden has taken the second of these options. The approval for public or independent high schools is given by the Vermont Board of Education. To become an approved independent school, the school must: (1) offer elementary or secondary education; (2) provide a prescribed minimum course of study; and (3) "substantially" comply with Vermont Board of Education rules for approved independent schools. 16 V.S.A. § 166(b). The rules must at a minimum require "that the school has the resources required to meet its stated objectives, including financial capacity, faculty who are qualified by training and experience in the areas in which they are assigned, and physical facilities and special services that are in accordance with any state or federal law or regulation. Id.(FN5) Neither the statute nor the rules deal with sectarian education. As discussed below, the exact tuition reimbursement scheme adopted by the Chittenden Town School District became unlawful after this Court's decision in Swart, but: The Legislature took no action to implement that decision, leaving the school districts in the same position today as they were in 1961. Although the relevant statutes allow school districts to pay tuition on behalf of a resident who is a student in any approved private school, the districts must determine whether such a payment violates the Establishment Clause. Campbell, 161 Vt. at 447, 641 A.2d at 356. Thus, neither the statute nor the rules deal with the religious part of the curriculum of a sectarian school. They impose no limit on the quantity and nature of sectarian subjects; nor do they require that sectarian education be separated from secular education. It is entirely possible that the majority of the education in an approved independent school will be in religious tenets and doctrine.(FN6) Nor do the tuition payment statutes impose any real limits. The sending district must pay the full tuition rate of any independent school meeting public school standards. 16 V.S.A. § 824(b). If the independent school does not meet public school standards, the tuition payment for a high school student cannot exceed "the average announced tuition of Vermont union high schools for students in grades 9-12 for the year" or such higher rate as is voted by the electorate of the sending district. Id. Although the term "tuition" is not defined, we see nothing in the statutory scheme to suggest that it is other than the rate charged by the approved independent school for whatever educational services it delivers. Thus, the cost of purely religious education can be included in the tuition payment made to a sectarian school. We do not mean to suggest that our present inquiry implicates the ability of a sectarian school to charge tuition for religious education, rather than requiring that the cost of such education be borne by voluntary donations of religious adherents. This is a policy choice of the religious school. However, for reasons discussed fully below, we deem it highly relevant that, in the absence of any kind of regulatory process, the tuition payment system adopted by the Chittenden Town School District can, and presumably will, expend public money on religious education as long as some undetermined percentage of the money funds education on secular subjects required in the state's minimum course of study. The stipulated facts indicate that this is happening at MSJ. Apparently, the public and private sources of revenue are commingled so that each supports religious education. In reviewing the statutory scheme, we are also making a point about the nature of this case. The factual record made by the parties shows, at best, some examples of how Chittenden's tuition reimbursement policy might be used, but the record also demands a broader inquiry. See Robtoy v. City of St. Albans, 132 Vt. 503, 504, 321 A.2d 45 , 46-47 (1974) (function of declaratory judgment is to resolve "actual or justiciable controversy" involving results that are "reasonably to be expected"). The stipulated facts show that the Chittenden Town School District intends to pay tuition to any qualifying secondary school, sectarian or secular, selected by the students and parents. As it happens, the only sectarian school now selected by Chittenden parents and students is MSJ, but no party is suggesting that this decision will not govern if a student selects another religious school. Therefore, this case is not about MSJ or any other parochial school as such. We are called upon to decide whether a tuition reimbursement policy that allows tuition to be paid to any "approved public or independent high school" is constitutional, because the Department of Education may reasonably expect the Chittenden Town School District to reimburse tuition for all such schools. In examining the statutory scheme, we are therefore looking at which schools could meet the standards for this designation and receive tuition reimbursement if selected by parents and children. III. Chapter I, Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution Defendants argue that the Chittenden tuition payment policy violates both the federal and Vermont constitutions, and the superior court accepted both claims. In Swart, this Court chose to analyze a virtually identical case under the First Amendment because the federal law was clear, and the Court was uncertain of the outcome under Chapter I, Article 3 of the Vermont Constitution. The federal law has become less clear. See, e.g., Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203 , 209, 2016-17 (1997) (overruling Aguilar v. Felton, 473 U.S. 402 (1985) and School Dist. of Grand Rapids v. Ball, 473 U.S. 373 (1985) and holding that federally funded instruction at sectarian schools is permissible under Establishment Clause in at least some circumstances); see also Simmons-Harris v. Goff, No. 97-1117, slip op. at 18 (Ohio May 27, 1999) (sustaining, in part, on Establishment Clause grounds a voucher program that includes sectarian schools); Jackson v. Benson, 578 N.W.2d 602, 620 (Wis. 1998)(concluding that choice plan that includes religious schools does not offend Establishment Clause), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 466 (1998); but see Strout v. Albanese, No. 98-1986, 1999 U.S. App. Lexis 10932 at *19-20 (1st Cir. May 27, 1999) (reaching opposite conclusion in context of tuitioning plan explicitly excluding parochial schools); Bagley v. Raymond Sch. Dep't, No. 98-281, 1999 WL 236464 at *43-44 (Me. Apr. 23, 1999) (same). We are the final judicial interpreters of the Vermont Constitution, see State v. Read, 165 Vt. 141, 153, 680 A.2d 944 , 951 (1996), and our fundamental charter is a freestanding document, see Hodgeman v. Jard Co., 157 Vt. 461, 464, 599 A.2d 1371, 1373 (1991). Therefore, as we pointed out in State v. Badger, 141 Vt. 430, 449, 450 A.2d 336 , 347 (1982), when faced with a choice between deciding a constitutional case on state grounds -- yielding a final answer in the form of "adequate and independent state grounds to support our judgment" -- and a construction of the federal constitution that faces an uncertain future given the state of applicable federal principles, our duty is to choose the former course of action. "If our state constitution is to mean anything, it must be enforced where it is the only law capable of providing a final answer to a claim and a party [who] . . . has invoked its protections." Id. Accordingly, we decide this case based solely on the Vermont Constitution and, since it is dispositive, need not consider whether the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment would also prohibit the tuition reimbursement policy at issue here. Article 3 provides: That all persons have a natural and unalienable right, to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences and understandings, as in their opinion shall be regulated by the word of God; and that no person ought to, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of conscience, nor can any person be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citizen, on account of religious sentiments, or peculiar mode of religious worship; and that no authority can, or ought to be vested in, or assumed by, any power whatever, that shall in any case interfere with, or in any manner control the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship. Nevertheless, every sect or denomination of Christians ought to observe the Sabbath or Lord's day, and keep up some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God. Vt. Const. ch I, art. 3 (emphasis added.) Defendants argue that Chittenden's tuition policy violates the Compelled Support Clause of Article 3. That is, the policy forces dissenting Chittenden and other Vermont taxpayers to "support [a] place of worship . . . contrary to the dictates of conscience." Id. Our decision must, therefore, turn on the meaning of the quoted language. In construing our constitution, we have available a number of approaches in addition to our own precedents: examination of the text, historical analysis, sibling state constructions of similar provisions, and analysis of economic and sociological materials. See State v. Jewett, 146 Vt. 221, 225-27, 500 A.2d 233 , 236-37 (1985). Like the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article 3 expresses two related, but different, concepts about the nature of religious liberty: No power may interfere with or control an individual's free exercise of religious worship, and no person can be compelled to attend or support religious worship against that person's conscience. We developed the meaning of the first concept in State v. DeLaBruere, 154 Vt. 237, 262-70, 577 A.2d 254, 268-72 (1990). Our cases have not significantly developed the meaning of the Compelled Support Clause. A. Prior  See DeLaBruere, 154 Vt. at 263, 577 A.2d at 268. Our first opportunity to interpret the Compelled Support Clause came in Swart, a dispute with facts virtually identical to those before us in this case. In Swart, a citizen of South Burlington, which did not then have a high school, sued to prevent the local school district from paying tuition to two nearby Roman Catholic secondary schools that were attended by South Burlington students. The trial court decided to analyze the case under the First Amendment because this Court had not previously construed Article 3. This Court agreed, noting that "the militant sense of freedom which directed [our] . . . founders to be the first to write a prohibition against slavery . . ., was somewhat reserved in expression of religious liberty." 122 Vt. at 182, 167 A.2d at 517. It added that "[i]n the domain of religious liberty, the resolute history of the First Amendment seems the more demanding." Id. at 184, 167 A.2d at 518. A related question is addressed in Vermont Educational Buildings Financing Agency v. Mann, 127 Vt. 262, 247 A.2d 68 (1968), where the chairman of the financing agency refused to issue revenue bonds and execute leases to construct a classroom building and science center for a Roman Catholic college in Rutland. In upholding the financing arrangement against challenges under both Article 3 and the First Amendment, the Court noted that Article 3 contains "no explicit injunction precluding assistance to sectarian education" and concluded that "[i]n this area, the limits of the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution are more restrictive," citing Swart. Id. at 269, 247 A.2d at 73. There was no violation of either constitution because "'[t]he mere fact that public funds are expended to an institution operated by a religious enterprise does not establish the fact that the proceeds are used to support the religion professed by the recipient.'" Id. at 270-71, 247 A.2d at 518 (quoting Swart, 122 Vt. at 184-85, 167 A.2d at 518).(FN7) The Court determined that the cause of religion would neither be served nor obstructed by the facilities to be constructed and financed, and that the lease and financing were constitutional. Id. at 271, 247 A.2d at 716. In Mikell v. Town of Williston, 129 Vt. 586, 589, 285 A.2d 713 , 715-16 (1971), the Court concluded that the proceeds from lease lands, originally granted for church usage by the Royal Governor of New Hampshire and the State of Vermont, cannot be constitutionally paid by a town to the Episcopal Church. Although the plaintiff challenged the usage of the money under both the Vermont and the federal constitution, this Court relied solely on the federal constitution in holding that "[p]ublic subsidy of the dissemination of religious doctrine is unconstitutional." Id. at 589, 285 A.2d at 716. Most recently, we confronted the question of public subsidies for sectarian education in Campbell. The Campbell decision is central to the parties' analysis of the current state of the federal law, but it does not discuss or apply the requirements of Article 3. Although the case was about local payment of tuition to attend a religious school, the issues were in a markedly different posture from those before us. In Campbell, the father of a secondary school student sought reimbursement for tuition he had already paid to an out-of-state Episcopal preparatory school. Pointing out the narrowness of our decision, we held that the Town of Manchester, which does not have a public high school and pays tuition to educate secondary school children, must reimburse plaintiff for the tuition. 161 Vt. at 442, 456, 641 A.2d at 354, 361. In reaching this decision, we emphasized the numerous circumstances that made the case unique: (1) the plaintiff had already paid the tuition so the town's payment would go to the parent and not to the sectarian school;(FN8) (2) the plaintiff did not live near a sectarian school, and there was no evidence that allowing tuition reimbursement would send any substantial number of children to sectarian institutions; (3) the sectarian school involved was out of state, and the regulation of the institution would not be affected by the ruling; and (4) because the out-of-state school could not meet Vermont public school approval standards, the reimbursement was limited to the average announced tuition of Vermont union high schools.(FN9) See id. at 452-53, 641 A.2d at 359-60. Under these circumstances, we held that reimbursement of the tuition would not offend the First Amendment. Id. at 456, 641 A.2d at 361. Plaintiffs invoke this body of case law in support of their cause. They rely upon (1) Campbell and its analysis of federal law for the proposition that tuition payments to sectarian schools are constitutional as long as the schools are selected by the parents of the attending children, and (2) Swart and Mann for the proposition that Article 3 imposes no more constitutional restrictions than the First Amendment. On this basis, they argue that tuition payments to sectarian schools do not offend Article 3 as long as the parents choose the schools. We are unable to draw the conclusion that a payment scheme that does not offend the First Amendment is necessarily consistent with Article 3. Whatever their interrelationship, the constitutional provisions are very differently worded. The First Amendment prohibits any "law respecting an establishment of religion." U.S. Const. amend. I. Article 3 prohibits coerced support for "any place of worship." Vt. Const. ch. I, art. 3. We are not dealing with "slightly variant phraseology" that can be easily reconciled. See State v. Brean, 136 Vt. 147, 151, 385 A.2d 1085 , 1088 (1978) (discussing relationship between self-incrimination clause of Fifth Amendment to United States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 10 of the Vermont Constitution). As applied to the myriad of circumstances that might come before us, we do not believe we can simplistically state that one provision is always more restrictive of state action with respect to religion than another. We also emphasize that the statements in Swart and Mann involved the Court's assessment of the state of federal law at the time. We believe that the Swart Court accurately analyzed and applied federal law as it then existed in the leading United States Supreme Court decisions of Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1946), and McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948). However we might predict the United States Supreme Court would rule today, we believe it would have affirmed Swart at the time for the reasons this Court found controlling. This controversy arises at this time because Chittenden believes that the United States Supreme Court would rule differently today. Broad and general statements comparing the meaning of our constitutional provisions to the meaning of federal constitutional provisions are not particularly helpful when the meaning of the federal constitutional provision changes through new court decisions. See State v. Ely, 167 Vt. 323, 330-31, 708 A.2d 1332 , 1336-37 (1997). We do not know how the Swart Court would have ruled if required to analyze the tuition-payment scheme under Article 3. We must now perform that analysis. B. Text of the Constitutional Provision In performing this analysis, we turn first to the text of Article 3. The relevant language provides that "no person ought to, or of right can be compelled to . . . support any place of worship . . . contrary to the dictates of conscience." Vt. Const. ch. I, art. 3. The meaning of some parts of the language is not disputed. No party disputes that the language creates a self-executing prohibition, see Shields v. Gerhart, 163 Vt. 219, 224, 658 A.2d 924 , 928 (1995) (constitutional provision is self-executing "if it supplies a sufficient rule by means of which the right given may be enjoyed and protected") (quoting Davis v. Burke, 179 U.S. 399 , 403 (1900)) (quoting Cooley, Constitutional Limitations 99 (1883)), although they disagree about the nature of that prohibition. No party disputes that "support" includes financial support through the payment of taxes.(FN10) Finally, no party disputes that the phrase "contrary to the dictates of conscience" refers to the conscience of the person who provides support and that this element is met if compelled support for a place of worship offends the religious beliefs of the supporter. The disagreements come in two places. First, plaintiffs argue that a school, however sectarian, is not a place of worship as that term is used in Article 3. Second, they assert that the intent behind the language was to prohibit state-sponsored religious institutions -- that is, a state establishment of religion -- and there is no state sponsorship here because the parents, not the school district, chose the religious school. At the outset, we can narrow the first disagreement about the meaning of Article 3. We do not read defendants as claiming that any payment of public money to a religious school, for whatever reason, necessarily offends Article 3 because it supports a place of worship. In any event, we believe that such a broad reading of Article 3 was necessarily rejected in Swart and Mann. We noted in Swart, 122 Vt. at 184-85, 167 A.2d at 518, and reiterated in Mann, 127 Vt. at 270-71, 247 A.2d at 74, that the "mere fact that public funds are expended to an institution operated by a religious enterprise does not establish the fact that the proceeds are used to support the religion professed by the recipient." At least in Mann, this statement was applicable to Article 3. Thus, although the words might appear to be broader, we believe that Article 3 is not offended by mere compelled support for a place of worship unless the compelled support is for the "worship" itself. As narrowed, plaintiffs' claim is that religious education is not religious worship within the meaning of Article 3. To reinforce this point, they note that the Vermont Constitution contains no specific provision on support of sectarian education, a subject we address in a later section of this opinion.(FN11) Plaintiffs also draw our attention to Chapter II, § 68, the section on public education, which provides: All religious societies, or bodies of people that may be united or incorporated for the advancement of religion and learning, or for other pious and charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy, under such regulations as the general assembly of this state shall direct. Vt. Const. ch. II, § 68. Plaintiffs see in this language an intent to aid religious education, which can occur through financial support. Defendants necessarily take the opposite side of the issue. We do not try to resolve this disagreement on the language alone and consider it in later sections of the opinion. The second disagreement over the meaning of the text is central to the relationship between Article 3 and the First Amendment. The First Amendment prohibits any law "respecting an establishment of religion." U.S. Const. amend. I. Plaintiffs argue that Article 3 expresses the same policy aimed at the same governmental wrong. Thus, they assert that as long as government does not take sides among religions, it may compel support for religious activities. Here, government is not endorsing any religion because the parents have free choice of religious or secular institutions. Again, defendants disagree with this interpretation, and we do not attempt to resolve it on the language alone. We emphasize, however, that the text appears to be inconsistent with plaintiffs' position. Rather than prohibiting compelled support of a particular or state-selected place of worship, it prohibits compelled support of "any place of worship."(FN12) Vt. Const. ch. I, art. 3. Although it is tempting to attempt to resolve the meaning of the constitutional provision on the words alone, we believe that approach is not possible in this case. We are particularly guided by our decision in Peck v. Douglas, 148 Vt. 128, 132, 530 A.2d 551 , 554 (1987): The remark of Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 407 (1819), that "[w]e must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding" resounds as a vital truth, and we keep it in mind as we face the task before the Court in this case. The standards for interpreting constitutional language and meaning, though related, are not the same as for ordinary statutes. Canons of construction, if applied, must be used more cautiously and sometimes differently. When embarking on the process of statutory construction, we have established a clearly articulated hierarchy of available sources and turn first to the "plain, ordinary meaning of the language." Brennan v. Town of Colchester, 10 Vt. L.W. 83, 83 (1999) (citation omitted). If we can derive the intent of the Legislature from the plain meaning of the words, our task is normally at an end. See Harris v. Sherman, 167 Vt. 613, 614, 708 A.2d 1348 , 1349 (1998) (mem.). By contrast, our decisions interpreting the Vermont Constitution have carefully avoided such a hierarchy. See Benning v. State, 161 Vt. 472, 476, 641 A.2d 757 , 759 (1994) (noting that words of constitutional text are one of the tools available to find meaning of a constitutional provision). Other courts of last resort have followed this approach. See, e.g., Thompson v. Craney, 546 N.W.2d 123, 127 (Wis. 1996) ("plain meaning" of words is one of three sources used in construing the Wisconsin Constitution); Charles Reinhart Co. v. Winiemko, 513 N.W.2d 773 , 785 (Mich. 1994). There are sound reasons for avoiding excessive reliance on a plain meaning approach to constitutional interpretation, even if a plain meaning can be found. The compelled support language of Article 3 was first adopted in 1777 and has antecedents going back to the Seventeenth Century. See infra, pp. 20-28. In trying to discern what such language means, we are "trying to make the best sense we can of an historical event - someone, or a social group with particular responsibilities, speaking or writing in a particular way on a particular occasion." R. Dworkin, The Arduous Virtue of Fidelity: Originalism, Scalia, Tribe and Nerve, 65 Fordham L. Rev. 1249, 1252 (1997). As Professor Dworkin suggests, using as an example Milton's reference to "gay hordes" in Paradise Lost, the older the text, the more significant historical context becomes. See id. at 1251-53. We pointed out in Benning that the constitutions of the New England states are "basically philosophic documents designed first and foremost to set a direction for civil society and to express and institutionalize a theory of republican government." Benning, 161 Vt. at 476, 641 A.2d at 759. Similarly, we stressed in Peck that statutory construction techniques are often inapplicable because "a constitutional provision, unlike a statute, usually operates to limit or direct