Court Opinion

ID: 9527762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:33:58.096211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:11.303061
License: Public Domain

SCHULTZ, Justice
(dissenting).
Because I believe plaintiffs should have been granted an exemption under section 299.24, I dissent.
This appeal presents difficult constitutional problems involving a confrontation between the rights of the state and the religious freedom guaranteed under the Constitution. After a no-win confrontation with Amish parents and faced with the electors’ revulsion caused by media pictures of peace officers chasing frightened children into cornfields, our legislature wisely avoided similar constitutional problems by the enactment of section 299.24. I believe that the exception provided in section 299.24 is as applicable to the appellants as it is to the Amish. By enacting this section, I believe the legislature not only intended to avoid placing our executive and judicial branch in the unpleasant position of attempting to enforce compulsory education on the Amish, but also attempted to eliminate this problem in relation to other religious groups who maintain unusual principles that clash with the state’s philosophy of education. The State Board of Education should have given these appellants an exemption. I would reverse the trial court.
Iowa Code section 299.1 (1979) requires that all children over seven and under sixteen attend public school; it excepts children who attend “upon equivalent instruction by a certified teacher elsewhere.” This exception applies to all who choose nonpublic education; it is not aimed at those with religious objections to public education and makes no attempt to accommodate those with religious objections. *86Most private religious schools fall within this section because they have no objection to providing instruction equivalent to that received in public schools; they simply choose to offer additional religious instruction.
On the other hand, section 299.24 was designed for those whose religious beliefs “differ substantially from the objectives, goals, and philosophy of education embodied in standards set forth in section 257.25, and rules adopted in implementation.” § 299.24. Nowhere does section 299.24 limit its application to the Amish. True, it arose out of the State’s conflict with the Amish, recognizing that the State should accommodate those with strongly held religious beliefs, but it looked forward to potential application to others, stating that “members or representatives of a local congregation of a recognized church or religious denomination” could apply for an exemption. § 299.24. Section 299.24 provides an escape hatch to accommodate those with sincere religious beliefs that are substantially at variance with public education under our statute and rules.
The majority finds that plaintiffs do not fall within the section 299.24 exception because they have not shown “that their children’s educational needs are significantly different from those of other children.” The statute does not address different educational needs; it is aimed at those with different educational goals. Despite the majority’s conclusion to the contrary, I believe plaintiffs have established different educational goals. Thus, I believe the administrative decision was arbitrary and capricious, requiring reversal.
Plaintiffs’ ultimate educational goal is the glorification of God. Everything taught in their school must be taught from the perspective of their religious beliefs, emphasizing the role of God and the church in their lives and in every subject taught. The children are taught to make life decisions, not through a reasoning process based on the knowledge obtained through their education, but by resorting directly to God or God’s word. Nowhere in section 257.25 do we find reference to a public education goal of teaching facts permeated with religion and teaching children to rely on God or God’s word.
If this was the extent of appellants’ religious dogma concerning Christian education, I might agree that the decision of the agency was not unreasonable. The majority suggests that our statute is aimed at a much smaller target than all parochial schools in the state. Although I would agree with that suggestion, I cannot agree with the implications contained in the majority opinion that places appellants in the same classification as other church groups who choose to provide a religious-oriented education. I perceive from the record that appellants are substantially different in some respects from our other private religious groups. Other parochial schools attempt to cooperate with public regulation of their schools, seeking public financial support and busing as long as the State does not interfere with their teaching of religious doctrines. The appellants, on the other hand, as a part of their ministry, insist that the exclusive right to educate belongs to the church and interpret the Bible to command their educational ministry. They share the conviction that there is no dichotomy between secular truth and sacred truth. Their educational ministry places the minister as the principal teacher. Their religious conviction that any relationship between the church and state is repugnant prevents the minister or any of the teachers from being certified by the state. Appellants’ belief that teachers should be selected by the minister, in consultation with God, based largely on the doctrinal beliefs they are expected to convey to the students places them in direct opposition to the state’s scheme of utilizing certified teachers because those teacher applicants who truly follow the doctrine of this church will refuse to become certified by the state. Although appellants may teach the same subjects in their school that are required in the public schools, they approach them from an entirely different philosophical standpoint and will accept no regulation or suggestion from state agencies. Appel*87lants have established strong and sincere religious beliefs which form the basis for educational goals, objectives and philosophies which substantially differ from those of public education.
In summary, I conclude that the agency and district court erred in the emphasis placed on the similarity between the curriculum of the church school and the educational standards set forth in section 257.25 along with the rules adopted in implementation. I would hold that the section 299.24 exemption is available to the appellants in this case because their goals are dissimilar to those of the state. I conclude that it was the intention of the legislature not only to avoid a confrontation, with its accompanying criminal sanctions, for the Amish but also for other types of religious groups whose beliefs cause them to be out of step with the state’s scheme of enforced education by certified teachers. For this reason I believe the agency decision and that of the district court are arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and should be reversed.
UHLENHOPP, J., joins this dissent.