Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/473/373/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 09:02:44+00:00

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Petitioner School District adopted two programs -- Shared Time and Community Education -- that provide classes to nonpublic school students at public expense in classrooms located in and leased from the nonpublic schools. The Shared Time program offers classes during the regular schoolday that are intended to supplement the "core curriculum" courses required by the State. The Shared Time teachers are full-time employees of the public schools, but a "significant portion" of them had previously taught in nonpublic schools. The Community Education program offers classes at the conclusion of the regular schoolday in voluntary courses, some of which are not offered at the public schools but others of which are. Community Education teachers are part-time public school employees who for the most part are otherwise employed full-time by the same nonpublic school in which their Community Education classes are held. Of the 41 private schools involved in these programs, 40 are identifiably religious schools. The students attending both programs are the same students who otherwise attend the particular school in which the classes are held. Respondent taxpayers filed suit in Federal District Court against the School District and certain state officials, alleging that both programs violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, made applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. The court agreed, entered a judgment for respondents, and enjoined further operation of the programs. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: The Shared Time and Community Education programs have the "primary or principal" effect of advancing religion, and therefore violate the dictates of the Establishment Clause. Pp. 473 U. S. 381-398.
(a) Even the praiseworthy, secular purpose of providing for the education of schoolchildren cannot validate government aid to parochial schools when the aid has the effect of promoting a single religion or religion generally or when the aid unduly entangles the government in matters religious. Pp. 473 U. S. 381-383.
work, may subtly or overtly indoctrinate the students in particular religious tenets at public expense. Second, the symbolic union of church and state inherent in the provision of secular state-provided public instruction in the religious school buildings threatens to convey a message of state support for religion to students and to the general public. Third, the programs in effect subsidize the religious functions of the parochial schools by taking over a substantial portion of their responsibility for teaching secular subjects. Pp. 473 U. S. 384-398.
BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BURGER, C.J., post, p. 473 U. S. 398, and O'CONNOR, J., post, p. 473 U. S. 398, filed opinions concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. WHITE, J., post, p. 473 U. S. 400, and REHNQUIST, J., post, p. 473 U. S. 400, filed dissenting opinions.
The School District of Grand Rapids, Michigan, adopted two programs in which classes for nonpublic school students are financed by the public school system, taught by teachers hired by the public school system, and conducted in "leased" classrooms in the nonpublic schools. Most of the nonpublic schools involved in the programs are sectarian religious schools. This case raises the question whether these programs impermissibly involve the government in the support of sectarian religious activities, and thus violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Shared Time teachers are full-time employees of the public schools, who often move from classroom to classroom during the course of the schoolday. A "significant portion" of the teachers (approximately 10%) "previously taught in nonpublic schools, and many of those had been assigned to the same nonpublic school where they were previously employed." Id. at 1078. The School District of Grand Rapids hires Shared Time teachers in accordance with its ordinary hiring procedures. Ibid. The public school system apparently provides all of the supplies, materials, and equipment used in connection with Shared Time instruction. See App. 341.
"[a]lthough certain Community Education courses offered at nonpublic school sites are not offered at the public schools on a Community Education basis, all Community Education programs are otherwise available at the public schools, usually as a part of their more extensive regular curriculum."
"virtually every Community Education course conducted on facilities leased from nonpublic schools has an instructor otherwise employed full time by the same nonpublic school."
Nonpublic school administrators decide which classrooms will be used for the programs, and the Director then inspects the facilities and consults with Shared Time teachers to make sure the facilities are satisfactory. The public school system pays the nonpublic schools for the use of the necessary classroom space by entering into "leases" at the rate of $6 per classroom per week. The "leases," however, contain no mention of the particular room, space, or facility leased and teachers' rooms, libraries, lavatories, and similar facilities are made available at no additional charge. Id. at 1077.
Each room used in the programs has to be free of any crucifix, religious symbol, or artifact, although such religious symbols can be present in the adjoining hallways, corridors, and other facilities used in connection with the program. During the time that a given classroom is being used in the programs, the teacher is required to post a sign stating that it is a "public school classroom." [Footnote 2] However, there are no signs posted outside the school buildings indicating that public school courses are conducted inside or that the facilities are being used as a public school annex.
"[t]hough Defendants claim the Shared Time program is available to all students, the record is abundantly clear that only nonpublic school students wearing the cloak of a 'public school student' can enroll in it."
"[w]hereas public school students are assembled at the public facility nearest to their residence, students in religious schools are assembled on the basis of religion, without any consideration of residence or school district boundaries."
"it is not sufficient that the teachings of Christianity be a separate subject in the curriculum, but the Word of God must be an all-pervading force in the educational program."
Id. at 1081. These Christian schools require all parents seeking to enroll their children either to subscribe to a particular doctrinal statement or to agree to have their children taught according to the doctrinal statement. The District Court found that the schools are "pervasively sectarian," id. at 1096, n. 13, and concluded "without hesitation that the purposes of these schools is to advance their particular religions," id. at 1096, and that "a substantial portion of their functions are subsumed in the religious mission." Id. at 1084.
public school systems and the sectarian schools. Petitioners appealed the judgment of the District Court to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. A divided panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed. Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. School Dist. of Grand Rapids, 718 F.2d 1389 (1983). We granted certiorari, 465 U.S. 1064 (1984), and now affirm.
"Neither [a State nor the Federal Government] can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. . . . No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion."
"sponsor an attitude on the part of government that shows no partiality to any one group and lets each flourish according to the zeal of its adherents and the appeal of its dogma."
Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306, 343 U. S. 313 (1952).
effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion, Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U. S. 236, 392 U. S. 243 (1968); finally, the statute must not foster 'an excessive government entanglement with religion.' Walz [v. Tax Comm'n, 397 U.S. at 397 U. S. 674]."
"must not be viewed as setting the precise limits to the necessary constitutional inquiry, but serve only as guidelines with which to identify instances in which the objectives of the Establishment Clause have been impaired."
Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U. S. 349, 421 U. S. 359 (1975). We have particularly relied on Lemon in every case involving the sensitive relationship between government and religion in the education of our children. The government's activities in this area can have a magnified impact on impressionable young minds, and the occasional rivalry of parallel public and private school systems offers an all-too-ready opportunity for divisive rifts along religious lines in the body politic. See Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, supra, at 413 U. S. 796-798; Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 403 U. S. 622-624. The Lemon test concentrates attention on the issues -- purposes, effect, entanglement -- that determine whether a particular state action is an improper "law respecting an establishment of religion." We therefore reaffirm that state action alleged to violate the Establishment Clause should be measured against the Lemon criteria.
As has often been true in school aid cases, there is no dispute as to the first test. Both the District Court and the Court of Appeals found that the purpose of the Community Education and Shared Time programs was "manifestly secular." 546 F.Supp. at 1085; see also 718 F.2d at 1398. We find no reason to disagree with this holding, and therefore go on to consider whether the primary or principal effect of the challenged programs is to advance or inhibit religion.
"[b]ased upon the massive testimony and exhibits, the conclusion is inescapable that the religious institutions receiving instructional services from the public schools are sectarian in the sense that a substantial portion of their functions are subsumed in the religious mission."
"the secular education those schools provide goes hand in hand with the religious mission that is the only reason for the schools' existence. Within that institution, the two are inextricably intertwined. [Footnote 6]"
Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 403 U. S. 657 (opinion of BRENNAN, J.). See also Meek v. Pittenger, supra, at 421 U. S. 365-366; Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U. S. 236, 392 U. S. 245, 392 U. S. 247-248 (1968).
Given that 40 of the 41 schools in this case are thus "pervasively sectarian," the challenged public school programs operating in the religious schools may impermissibly advance religion in three different ways. First, the teachers participating in the programs may become involved in intentionally or inadvertently inculcating particular religious tenets or beliefs. Second, the programs may provide a crucial symbolic link between government and religion, thereby enlisting -- at least in the eyes of impressionable youngsters -- the powers of government to the support of the religious denomination operating the school. Third, the programs may have the effect of directly promoting religion by impermissibly providing a subsidy to the primary religious mission of the institutions affected.
Although Establishment Clause jurisprudence is characterized by few absolutes, the Clause does absolutely prohibit government-financed or government-sponsored indoctrination into the beliefs of a particular religious faith. See Stone v. Graham, 449 U. S. 39 (1980) (per curiam); Meek v. Pittenger, supra, at 421 U. S. 370; Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 403 U. S. 619 ("The State must be certain, given the Religion Clauses, that subsidized teachers do not inculcate religion"); Levitt v. Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty, 413 U. S. 472, 413 U. S. 480 (1973) ("[T]he State is constitutionally compelled to assure that the state-supported activity is not being used for religious indoctrination"); Engel v. Vitale, 370 U. S. 421, 370 U. S. 429 (1962); Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. at 343 U. S. 314 ("Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education . . ."). Such indoctrination, if permitted to occur, would have devastating effects on the right of each individual voluntarily to determine what to believe (and what not to believe) free of any coercive pressures from the State, while at the same time tainting the resulting religious beliefs with a corrosive secularism.
In Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U. S. 349 (1975), the Court invalidated a statute providing for the loan of state-paid professional staff -- including teachers -- to nonpublic schools to provide remedial and accelerated instruction, guidance counseling and testing, and other services on the premises of the nonpublic schools. Such a program, if not subjected to a "comprehensive, discriminating, and continuing state surveillance," Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 619 (quoted in Meek, supra, at 421 U. S. 370), would entail an unacceptable risk that the state-sponsored instructional personnel would "advance the religious mission of the church-related schools in which they serve." Meek, 421 U.S. at 421 U. S. 370. Even though the teachers were paid by the State, "[t]he potential for impermissible fostering of religion under these circumstances, although somewhat reduced, is nonetheless present." Id. at 421 U. S. 372. The program in Meek, if not sufficiently monitored, would simply have entailed too great a risk of state-sponsored indoctrination.
"virtually every Community Education course conducted on facilities leased from nonpublic schools has an instructor otherwise employed full-time by the same nonpublic school."
during the "official" schoolday. Nonetheless, as petitioners themselves asserted, Community Education classes are not specifically monitored for religious content. App. 353.
"not because the public employee [is] likely deliberately to subvert his task to the service of religion, but rather because the pressures of the environment might alter his behavior from its normal course."
Wolman v. Walter, 433 U. S. 229, 433 U. S. 247 (1977). "The conflict of functions inheres in the situation." Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 403 U. S. 617.
"[w]hether the subject is 'remedial reading,' 'advanced reading,' or simply 'reading,' a teacher remains a teacher, and the danger that religious doctrine will become intertwined with secular instruction persists."
Id. at 421 U. S. 370. Unlike types of aid that the Court has upheld, such as state-created standardized tests, Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Regan, 444 U. S. 646 (1980), or diagnostic services, Wolman v. Walter, supra, at 433 U. S. 241-244, there is a "substantial risk" that programs operating in this environment would "be used for religious educational purposes." Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Regan, supra, at 444 U. S. 656.
that this kind of ideological influence would be detected or reported by students, by their parents, or by the school system itself. The students are presumably attending religious schools precisely in order to receive religious instruction. After spending the balance of their schoolday in classes heavily influenced by a religious perspective, they would have little motivation or ability to discern improper ideological content that may creep into a Shared Time or Community Education course. Neither their parents nor the parochial schools would have cause to complain if the effect of the publicly supported instruction were to advance the schools' sectarian mission. And the public school system itself has no incentive to detect or report any specific incidents of improper state-sponsored indoctrination. Thus, the lack of evidence of specific incidents of indoctrination is of little significance.
religion in the minds of some by reason of the power conferred."
See also Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U. S. 263, 454 U. S. 274 (1981) (finding effect "incidental" and not "primary" because it "does not confer any imprimatur of state approval on religious sects or practices").
It follows that an important concern of the effects test is whether the symbolic union of church and state effected by the challenged governmental action is sufficiently likely to be perceived by adherents of the controlling denominations as an endorsement, and by the nonadherents as a disapproval, of their individual religious choices. The inquiry into this kind of effect must be conducted with particular care when many of the citizens perceiving the governmental message are children in their formative years. [Footnote 9] Cf. Widmar v. Vincent, supra, at 454 U. S. 274; Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U. S. 672, 403 U. S. 685-686 (1971). The symbolism of a union between church and state is most likely to influence children of tender years, whose experience is limited and whose beliefs consequently are the function of environment as much as of free and voluntary choice.
Our school-aid cases have recognized a sensitivity to the symbolic impact of the union of church and state. Grappling with problems in many ways parallel to those we face today, McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U. S. 203 (1948), held that a public school may not permit part-time religious instruction on its premises as a part of the school program, even if participation in that instruction is entirely voluntary and even if the instruction itself is conducted only by nonpublic school personnel. Yet in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S.
Giannella, Religious Liberty, Nonestablishment and Doctrinal Development: Part II. The Nonestablishment Principle, 81 Harv.L.Rev. 513, 574 (1968). Consequently, even the student who notices the "public school" sign [Footnote 11] temporarily posted would have before him a powerful symbol of state endorsement and encouragement of the religious beliefs taught in the same class at some other time during the day.
"Under the City's plan, public school teachers are, so far as appearance is concerned, a regular adjunct of the religious school. They pace the same halls, use classrooms in the same building, teach the same students, and confer with the teachers hired by the religious schools, many of them members of religious orders. The religious school appears to the public as a joint enterprise staffed with some teachers paid by its religious sponsor and others by the public."
Felton v. Secretary, United States Dept. of Ed., 739 F.2d 48, 67-68 (1984). This effect -- the symbolic union of government and religion in one sectarian enterprise -- is an impermissible effect under the Establishment Clause.
directly to primary or secondary religious educational institutions. See, e.g., Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 774-781 (reimbursement for maintenance and repair expenses); Levitt v. Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty, 413 U. S. 472 (1973) (reimbursement for teacher-prepared tests); Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971) (salary supplements for nonpublic school teachers). But see Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Regan, 444 U. S. 646 (1980) (permitting public subsidy for certain routinized recordkeeping and testing services performed by nonpublic schools but required by state law).
"well established . . . that not every law that confers an 'indirect,' 'remote,' or 'incidental' benefit upon religious institutions is, for that reason alone, constitutionally invalid."
Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, supra, at 413 U. S. 771; Roemer v. Maryland Public Works Board, 426 U. S. 736, 426 U. S. 747 (1976); Hunt v. McNair, 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 742-743. In such "indirect" aid cases, the government has used primarily secular means to accomplish a primarily secular end, and no "primary effect" of advancing religion has thus been found. On this rationale, the Court has upheld programs providing for loans of secular textbooks to nonpublic school students, Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U. S. 236 (1968); see also Wolman v. Walter, 433 U.S. at 433 U. S. 236-238; Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U.S. at 421 U. S. 359-362, and programs providing bus transportation for nonpublic school children, Everson v. Board of Education, supra.
aid" cases, the government, although acting for a secular purpose, has done so by directly supporting a religious institution. Under this rationale, the Court has struck down state schemes providing for tuition grants and tax benefits for parents whose children attend religious school, see Sloan v. Lemon, 413 U. S. 825 (1973); Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, supra, at 413 U. S. 780-794, and programs providing for "loan" of instructional materials to be used in religious schools, see Wolman v. Walter, supra, at 433 U. S. 248-251; Meek v. Pittenger, supra, at 421 U. S. 365. In Sloan and Nyquist, the aid was formally given to parents and not directly to the religious schools, while in Wolman and Meek, the aid was in-kind assistance, rather than the direct contribution of public funds. Nonetheless, these differences in form were insufficient to save programs whose effect was indistinguishable from that of a direct subsidy to the religious school.
Thus, the Court has never accepted the mere possibility of subsidization, as the above cases demonstrate, as sufficient to invalidate an aid program. On the other hand, this effect is not wholly unimportant for Establishment Clause purposes. If it were, the public schools could gradually take on themselves the entire responsibility for teaching secular subjects on religious school premises. The question in each case must be whether the effect of the proffered aid is "direct and substantial," Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, supra, at 413 U. S. 784-785, n. 39, or indirect and incidental. [Footnote 12] "The problem, like many problems in constitutional law, is one of degree." Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. at 343 U. S. 314.
We have noted in the past that the religious school has dual functions, providing its students with a secular education while it promotes a particular religious perspective. See Mueller v. Allen, 463 U.S. at 463 U. S. 401-402; Board of Education v. Allen, supra. In Meek and Wolman, we held unconstitutional state programs providing for loans of instructional equipment and materials to religious schools, on the ground that the programs advanced the "primary, religion-oriented educational function of the sectarian school." Meek, supra, at 421 U. S. 364; Wolman, supra, at 433 U. S. 248-251. Cf. Wolman, supra, at 433 U. S. 243 (upholding provision of diagnostic services, which were "general welfare services for children that may be provided by the State regardless of the incidental benefit that accrues to church-related schools,'" quoting Meek, supra, at 421 U. S. 371, n. 21). The programs challenged here, which provide teachers in addition to the instructional equipment and materials, have a similar -- and forbidden -- effect of advancing religion. This kind of direct aid to the educational function of the religious school is indistinguishable from the provision of a direct cash subsidy to the religious school that is most clearly prohibited under the Establishment Clause.
U.S. at 433 U. S. 249, n. 16. It follows a fortiori that the aid here, which includes not only instructional materials but also the provision of instructional services by teachers in the parochial school building, "inescapably [has] the primary effect of providing a direct and substantial advancement of the sectarian enterprise." Id. at 433 U. S. 250. Where, as here, no meaningful distinction can be made between aid to the student and aid to the school, "the concept of a loan to individuals is a transparent fiction." Wolman v. Walter, supra, at 433 U. S. 264 (opinion of POWELL, J.).
religious school student, for instance, now spends 10% of the schoolday in Shared Time classes. But there is no principled basis on which this Court can impose a limit on the percentage of the religious schoolday that can be subsidized by the public school. To let the genie out of the bottle in this case would be to permit ever larger segments of the religious school curriculum to be turned over to the public school system, thus violating the cardinal principle that the State may not in effect become the prime supporter of the religious school system. See Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. at 403 U. S. 624-625.
We conclude that the challenged programs have the effect of promoting religion in three ways. [Footnote 14] The state-paid instructors, influenced by the pervasively sectarian nature of the religious schools in which they work, may subtly or overtly indoctrinate the students in particular religious tenets at public expense. The symbolic union of church and state inherent in the provision of secular, state-provided instruction in the religious school buildings threatens to convey a message of state support for religion to students and to the general public. Finally, the programs in effect subsidize the religious functions of the parochial schools by taking over a substantial portion of their responsibility for teaching secular subjects. For these reasons, the conclusion is inescapable that the Community Education and Shared Time programs have the "primary or principal" effect of advancing religion, and therefore violate the dictates of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
"[N]othing we have said can be construed to disparage the role of church-related elementary and secondary schools in our national life. Their contribution has been and is enormous."
"[t]he Constitution decrees that religion must be a private matter for the individual, the family, and the institutions of private choice, and that, while some involvement and entanglement are inevitable, lines must be drawn."
Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 403 U. S. 625. Because "the controlling constitutional standards have become firmly rooted and the broad contours of our inquiry are now well defined," Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 761, the position of those lines has by now become quite clear, and requires affirmance of the Court of Appeals.
"physical education and industrial arts shared time classes at the secondary level and community education classes at the secondary level."
App. 39. Thus, the appeal involved only Shared Time classes at the elementary level, Community Education classes at the elementary level, and the remedial mathematics Shared Time class at the secondary level. Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. School Dist. of Grand Rapids, 718 F.2d 1389, 1390 (CA6 1983). These are the only programs whose constitutionality is now before the Court.
"GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC SCHOOLS' ROOM. THIS ROOM HAS BEEN LEASED BY THE GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. THE ACTIVITY IN THIS ROOM IS CONTROLLED SOLELY BY THE GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT."
As would be expected, a large majority of the students attending religious schools belong to the denomination that controls the school. The District Court found, for instance, that approximately 85% of the students at the Catholic schools are Catholic. 546 F.Supp. at 1080.
Petitioners alleged that respondents lacked taxpayer standing under Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83 (1968), and Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464 (1982). The District Court and the Court of Appeals rejected the standing challenge. We affirm this finding, relying on the numerous cases in which we have adjudicated Establishment Clause challenges by state taxpayers to programs for aiding nonpublic schools. See, e.g., Wolman v. Walter, 433 U. S. 229 (1977); Roemer v. Maryland Public Works Board, 426 U. S. 736, 426 U. S. 744 (1976); Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U. S. 349, 421 U. S. 356-357, n. 6 (1975); Sloan v. Lemon, 413 U. S. 825 (1973); Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U. S. 756, 413 U. S. 762 (1973); Hunt v. McNair, 413 U. S. 734, 413 U. S. 735 (1973); Levitt v. Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty, 413 U. S. 472, 413 U. S. 478 (1973); Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602, 403 U. S. 608, 403 U. S. 611 (1971); Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U. S. 1, 330 U. S. 3 (1947).
The elementary and secondary schools in this case differ substantially from the colleges that we refused to characterize as "pervasively sectarian" in Roemer v. Maryland Public Works Board, 426 U.S. at 426 U. S. 755-759. See also Hunt v. McNair, 413 U. S. 734 (1973); Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U. S. 672 (1971). Many of the schools in this case include prayer and attendance at religious services as a part of their curriculum, are run by churches or other organizations whose members must subscribe to particular religious tenets, have faculties and student bodies composed largely of adherents of the particular denomination, and give preference in attendance to children belonging to the denomination. 546 F.Supp. at 1080-1084.
For instance, this Court has held that prayers conducted at the commencement of a legislative session do not violate the Establishment Clause, in part because of long historical usage and lack of particular sectarian content. Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U. S. 783, 463 U. S. 795 (1983). But we have never indulged a similar assumption with respect to prayers conducted at the opening of the schoolday. Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U. S. 203 (1963); Engel v. Vitale, 370 U. S. 421 (1962).
Compare Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U.S. at 421 U. S. 367-373 (invalidating program providing for state-funded remedial services on religious school premises), with Wolman v. Walter, 433 U.S. at 433 U. S. 244-248 (upholding program providing for similar services at neutral sites off the premises of the religious school).
This "indirect subsidy" effect only evokes Establishment Clause concerns when the public funds flow to "an institution in which religion is so pervasive that a substantial portion of its functions are subsumed in the religious mission. . . ." Hunt v. McNair, 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 743. In this case, the District Court explicitly found that 40 of the 41 participating nonpublic schools were pervasively religious in this sense. 546 F.Supp. at 1080. For this reason, the inquiry into whether the aid is "direct and substantial" is necessary.
Petitioners also cite Mueller v. Allen, 463 U. S. 388 (1983), which upheld a general tax deduction available to parents of all schoolchildren for school expenses, including tuition to religious schools. Mueller, however, is quite unlike the instant case. Unlike Mueller, the aid provided here is unmediated by the tax code and the "numerous, private choices of individual parents of school-age children." Id. at 463 U. S. 399.
Because of this conclusion, we need not determine whether aspects of the challenged programs impermissibly entangle the government in religious matters, in violation of the third prong of the Lemon test. But see Aguilar v. Felton, post p. 473 U. S. 402.
I agree with the Court that, under our decisions in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971), and Earley v. DiCenso, decided together with Lemon, the Grand Rapids Community Education program violates the Establishment Clause. As to the Shared Time program, I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Aguilar v. Felton, post, p. 473 U. S. 402.
advances religion. Like the New York Title I program, the Grand Rapids Shared Time program employs full-time public school teachers who offer supplemental instruction to parochial school children on the premises of religious schools. Nothing in the record indicates that Shared Time instructors have attempted to proselytize their students. I see no reason why public school teachers in Grand Rapids are any more likely than their counterparts in New York to disobey their instructions.
"significant portion of the Shared Time instructors previously taught in nonpublic schools, and many of those had been assigned to the same nonpublic school where they were previously employed."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. School Dist. of Grand Rapids, 546 F.Supp. 1071, 1078 (WD Mich.1982). See ante at 473 U. S. 376, 473 U. S. 387, and n. 7. In fact, only 13 Shared Time instructors have ever been employed by any parochial school, and only a fraction of those 13 now work in a parochial school where they were previously employed. App.193. The experience of these few teachers does not significantly increase the risk that the perceived or actual effect of the Shared Time program will be to inculcate religion at public expense. I would uphold the Shared Time program.
under parochial school supervision, I agree that the program has the perceived and actual effect of advancing the religious aims of the church-related schools. This is particularly the case where, as here, religion pervades the curriculum and the teachers are accustomed to bring religion to play in everything they teach. I concur in the judgment of the Court that the Community Education program violates the Establishment Clause.
As evidenced by -my dissenting opinions in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602, 403 U. S. 661 (1971), and Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U. S. 756, 413 U. S. 813 (1973), I have long disagreed with the Court's interpretation and application of the Establishment Clause in the context of state aid to private schools. For the reasons stated in those dissents, I am firmly of the belief that the Court's decisions in these cases, like its decisions in Lemon and Nyquist, are "not required by the First Amendment and [are] contrary to the long-range interests of the country." 413 U.S. at 413 U. S. 820. For those same reasons, I am satisfied that what the States have sought to do in these cases is well within their authority and is not forbidden by the Establishment Clause. Hence, I dissent, and would reverse the judgment in each of these cases.
to discuss the faulty "wall" premise upon which those cases rest. In doing so, the Court blinds itself to the first 150 years' history of the Establishment Clause.
The Court today attempts to give content to the "effects" prong of the Lemon test by holding that a "symbolic link between government and religion" creates an impermissible effect. Ante at 473 U. S. 385. But one wonders how the teaching of "Math Topics," "Spanish," and "Gynmastics," which is struck down today, creates a greater "symbolic link" than the municipal creche upheld in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U. S. 668 (1984), or the legislative chaplain upheld in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U. S. 783 (1983).
A most unfortunate result of this case is that, to support its holding, the Court, despite its disclaimers, impugns the integrity of public school teachers. Contrary to the law and the teachers' promises, they are assumed to be eager inculcators of religious dogma, see ante at 473 U. S. 387-389, requiring, in the Court's words, "ongoing inspection." Aguilar v. Felton, post, at 473 U. S. 412; see ante at 473 U. S. 387-389. Not one instance of attempted religious inculcation exists in the records of the school-aid cases decided today, even though both the Grand Rapids and New York programs have been in operation for a number of years. I would reverse.
School District of the City of Grand Rapids, et al.

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