Opinion ID: 1441344
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Underpinnings of Equal Protection Concepts

Text: [¶ 23] The parents finally contend that 20-A M.R.S.A. § 2951(2) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which forbids any state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1, and thereby requires that all persons similarly situated must be treated alike. See Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 216, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982). [¶ 24] The parents present a somewhat unusual Equal Protection argument. They do not assert that, based on their religion, they have been denied access to education for their children that is available to others. [16] Indeed, the parents have the right to tuition payments for the same range of schools available to all parents in Raymond and have a broader range of options available to them than parents in towns with a public high school. Rather, the parents assert that because they would choose a school that is not approved for the tuition program, and because that school is excluded due to its religious nature, they have been denied equal protection of the laws based on religion. [¶ 25] The difficulty in framing the parents' contention as an Equal Protection claim is highlighted by their concession that the State is not required, in towns that have public high schools, to pay for a high school education at a religious school. They further concede that if the State were to provide tuition in towns such as Raymond only for other public schools, they would have no cause of action. Their argument turns therefore on the fact that the State chooses to include private schools in the tuition program but excludes private religious schools. In essence, the parents claim that Cheverus is treated differently because it is a religious school, not that the parents are treated differently because they are Catholic. Ordinarily, the Equal Protection claim here would be asserted, not by potential clients of the excluded institution, but by the school itself. [17] Cheverus, however, is not a party to this action. [¶ 26] Nonetheless, we conclude that the parents present an important issue worthy of evaluation. For purposes of this analysis, therefore, we will assess the parents' Equal Protection argument assuming arguendo that the parents' lack of opportunity to have the State pay the tuition for their children to attend a private religious school results in their own disparate treatment on the basis of their religion.