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Page Number: 32

10 

CARSON v. MAKIN 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

Maine’s  Constitution  guarantees  Maine’s  children  a  free
public education by requiring that all towns provide “for the 
support and maintenance of public schools.”  Art. VIII, pt.
1, §1; see also Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §2(1) (2008).
Because of the State’s rural geography and dispersed popu-
lation, however, over half of Maine’s school districts do not 
operate public secondary schools.  App. 70.  To fulfill its con-
stitutional promise, Maine created a program that provides
some  parents  in  these  districts  with  a  monetary  grant  to 
help them educate their children “at the public school or the
approved  private  school  of  the  parent’s  choice.”    Me.  Rev. 
Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §5204(4) (Cum. Supp. 2021).  The pro-
gram’s “function is limited to authorizing the provision of 
tuition subsidies to the parents of children who live within 
school [districts] that simply do not have the resources to
operate a public school system, and whose children would 
otherwise not be given an opportunity to receive a free pub-
lic education.”  Hallissey v. School Administrative Dist. No. 
77, 2000 ME 143, ¶16, 755 A. 2d 1068, 1073.

Under Maine law, an “approved” private school must be 
“nonsectarian.”  §2951(2).    A  school  fails  to  meet  that  re-
quirement (and is deemed “sectarian”) only if it is both (1) 
“ ‘associated with a particular faith or belief system’ ”  and 
also (2) “ ‘promotes the faith or belief system with which it 
is  associated  and/or  presents  the  [academic]  material
taught  through  the  lens  of  this  faith.’ ”    979  F. 3d,  at  38 
(quoting Maine’s then-education commissioner).  To deter-
mine whether a school is sectarian, the “ ‘focus is on what 
the school teaches through its curriculum and related activ-
ities, and how the material is presented.’ ”  Ibid. (emphasis
deleted).  “ ‘[A]ffiliation or association with a church or reli-
gious institution . . . is not dispositive’ ” of sectarian status. 
Ibid. 

The  two  private  religious  schools  at  issue  here  satisfy 
both of these criteria.  They are affiliated with a church or 
religious organization.  See App. 80, 91.  And they also teach