The tax-free instruments benefit investors since they have no tax obligation, and the lower return rate means reduced interest payments for Lipscomb. Five local residents, including a minister, filed suit to stop the action, alleging that it violated the constitutional separation of church and state. The University operates the David Lipscomb Campus School for youngsters in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Five schools in Nashville have gained funding through bonds issued by the Industrial Development Board, or the Health and Educational Facilities Board. The new school will enroll up to 800 students and open in the fall of 2002 if final approval is received.
Construction is already underway.
The city is also picking up the tab to widen the street and broaden shoulders at the entrance to the high school. Other religious schools, though, might have an easier time obtaining such funding if they avoid using religion as a litmus test in admitting students or hiring faculty, and minimize overt sectarian proselytizing. Attorneys for Lipscomb, though, say that the law regarding bonds for religious institutions is muddled and changing. We believe that the 'pervasively sectarian' test has never been clearly defined by the courts and is no longer the law. It's another example where courts and law have turned the Jeffersonian wall of separation into a porous boundary, not a barrier between government and religion.