Opinion ID: 522965
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: applicability of the equal access act

Text: 40 The Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 4071, makes it unlawful for 41 any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or to discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings. 42 20 U.S.C. Sec. 4071(a). 43 The Act's requirements only apply to high schools which have a limited open forum. Because Lindbergh does not have a limited open forum as defined by the Act, the Act's requirements do not apply. For the Act's purposes, a high school has a limited open forum when it grants an offering to or opportunity for one or more noncurriculum related student groups to meet on school premises during noninstructional time. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 4071(b). The Act does not define noncurriculum related group. 44 In evaluating whether the Renton School District allows noncurriculum related groups to meet at Lindbergh, we respect the district's determinations about which activities are curriculum related. Complete de novo review of every school district decision as to what is and what is not curriculum related would invite litigation from every student group denied a classroom for one reason or another, and is not necessary to effectuate the goals of the Act. Courts have always afforded school districts broad discretion in the management of school affairs, limited, of course, by any applicable constitutional or statutory principles. See, e.g., Hazelwood, 108 S.Ct. at 571; Board of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176 at 207-08, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 3051-52, 73 L.Ed.2d 690 (1982). The Equal Access Act does not expressly depart from this principle of deference to the judgment of local school officials. Congress must, therefore, be understood to have legislated in light of this principle. The legislative history supports this interpretation. During debate, Senator Hatfield, a sponsor of the legislation, made clear that the Act in no way seeks to limit a school district's authority to determine where the line is to be drawn between curriculum-related activities and noncurriculum related activities. 130 Cong.Rec. S8342 (Daily ed. June 27, 1984). 45 While we accord some deference to a school district's determination about whether a group is curriculum related, we cannot completely defer to a school district's determination. Complete deference would render the Act meaningless because school boards could circumvent the Act's requirements simply by asserting that all student groups are curriculum related. As the district court correctly recognized,  'a limited open forum should be triggered by what a school does, not by what it says.'  Garnett v. Renton School Dist. No. 403, 675 F.Supp. 1268, 1273 (W.D.Wash.1987) (quoting 130 Cong.Rec. S8341 (daily ed., June 27, 1984) (statement of Sen. Leahy)). 46 After independently reviewing the record, we agree with the district court's conclusion that all clubs at Lindbergh are related to the school's curriculum. The activities allowed to meet at Lindbergh are supervised by faculty advisers and are so closely related to course work or are so integral a part of the traditional and official school programs that they cannot reasonably be termed noncurriculum related. None of Lindbergh's clubs is student initiated or student directed. All of the clubs are sponsored by and substantially directed by the school through a faculty advisor or a teacher of a related course. Lindbergh has not merely deemed all its clubs to be curriculum related. Rather, Lindbergh and the school district have considered instructional goals, and, in accordance with a written policy, made the clubs a part of Lindbergh's curriculum. 47 Lindbergh does not allow noncurriculum related groups to meet on its premises during noninstructional time; the Equal Access Act does not apply. Because the Equal Access Act does not apply to this case, we need not decide whether the Act violates the Constitution.