Court Opinion

ID: 9704029
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:19:15.958731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:15.842886
License: Public Domain

Hallows, C. J.
(dissenting). As I read Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), 403 U. S. 602, 91 Sup. Ct. 2105, 29 L. Ed. 2d 745, it does not require, as the majority opinion does, that a contract between the state and a private school to purchase educational services must be treated as a grant of aid to the school. In Lemon under the contracts authorized by the Pennsylvania statute, the state directly reimbursed nonpublic schools solely for actual expenditures for teachers’ salaries, textbooks, and instructional material relating to secular subjects and prescribed accounting procedures which identified the “separate” cost of the “secular educational system.” The superintendent of public instruction was required to approve the textbooks and instructional materials. The court held the aid involved an excessive entanglement between state and religion. A fair reading of the contract in Lemon disclosed it was not a purchase of nonsectarian subjects but a reimbursement for certain expenditures and in effect an aid. The contract in the instant case between the Wisconsin higher educational aids board and Marquette University involves the pur*338chase of total dental educational services for Wisconsin residents at a price of $3,500 per student. There is no reason to believe the legislature did not mean what it said by “purchase.” The legislature, of course, cannot call black “white,” but in this case it called a spade a “spade,” which it can do.
As the majority opinion notes, a state may purchase services needed for the public good from any source and it is immaterial whether the supplier of those services is an individual, a corporation, a Christian or an atheist. If the purchase price is right, it is of no moment constitutionally what the supplier of the services does with the money. Even direct grants to church-sponsored activity do not necessarily violate the religious clauses of the constitution. Construction grants, bus transportation, textbooks, and tax exemptions give some aid to religious bodies and yet all these forms of governmental assistance have been upheld. See Everson v. Board of Education (1947), 330 U. S. 1, 67 Sup. Ct. 504, 91 L. Ed. 711; Board of Education v. Allen (1968), 392 U. S. 236, 88 Sup. Ct. 1923, 20 L. Ed. 2d 1060; Walz v. Tax Commission (1970), 397 U. S. 664, 90 Sup. Ct. 1409, 25 L. Ed. 2d 697; Bradfield v. Roberts (1899), 175 U. S. 291, 20 Sup. Ct. 121, 44 L. Ed. 168.
No great controversy exists over the fact the public health in Wisconsin demands increased dental care, which can only be adequately met by a school of dentistry in Wisconsin. The national average ratio of dentists to population is one dentist to each 2,000 persons. Wisconsin’s average is one dentist to each 2,037 persons. There are 20 counties in Wisconsin with a ratio ranging from one dentist per 3,300 people to one per 11,450 people. Over the past ten years the actual number of dentists practicing full-time in this state has decreased from 2,202 in 1960 to 1,941 in 1970, and during this time the needs for dental care have substantially increased. Eighty-five percent of Wisconsin’s *339dentists in active practice are graduates of Marquette School of Dentistry, which is the only institution providing dental education in this state. In 1970, 118 Wisconsin young men and women were enrolled as first-year dental students in the United States. Of these, 105 or approximately 90 percent were enrolled in Marquette School of Dentistry. This school is in danger of losing its accreditation by the Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association. Its future accreditation is dependent upon its progress in meeting 29 specific recommendations, chief among which is an adequate operating budget to provide the level of dental education which the council deemed appropriate. Part of the difficulty is the lack of a full-time faculty. In order to meet the recommended educational level, the annual cost of educating a dental student should reach $9,000. This cost is met only partly now by: (1) Tuition, which seldom in any school of higher education equals the complete cost of the educational service, and (2) income from outside sources including federal grants.
The contract with Marquette University provides the state will pay $3,500 for each resident Wisconsin student. So the state will receive the quid pro quo in dental education so necessary for public health, Marquette University agrees to use, and must use, this money for operating expenses so it can meet the demands of the council on dental education and continue to have its graduates recognized as accredited dentists. The majority opinion points out there is no express requirement that Marquette University use this money for the operation of the dental school. I think this is an unreasonable reading of the contract and the intent of the parties and intimates that both the state and Marquette University have purposes in mind other than that stated in the statutes and in the contract. The purpose and effect of the statute is not different than the medical health purpose this court approved in State ex rel. Warren v. *340Reuter (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 201, 170 N. W. 2d 790. Consequently, there can be no question the education of a sufficient number of dentists to provide required dental-health-care needs for Wisconsin citizens is an expenditure of Wisconsin funds for a valid public purpose. I think the contract of purchase is a legitimate and valid way to secure this public purpose and applying the test of aid to these facts is inappropriate and unnecessary.
It is argued the contract has some provisions which are inconsistent with the purchase theory such as requiring the purchase money to be used for operating expenses. This provision is superfluous and was added as an extra precaution that none of the money would be used for capital improvements. This is a condition of the purchase and does not change the nature of the contract. It is also argued there is a provision required by sec. 16.765 (1), Stats., against discrimination in employment and this is violated. Such argument is not germane to the concept of purchase. The clause against discrimination is only another condition of purchase. Such condition has not been breached and affords no basis for declaring the contract void. Every contract is capable of being breached, but that possibility is not a basis of invalidity. A fair reading of the contract would restrict the requirement of this condition to the dental school which has a separate academic entity, if not a separate legal corporate entity.
Assuming, as the majority does that the law provides an aid to a private school or that the statute and the contract must meet the same constitutional requirements as a direct grant of funds must, I still have difficulty with the strictness and the literal requirements of the majority’s opinion. The opinion properly states that the primary effect of sec. 89.36, Stats., created by ch. 44, sec. 4, Laws of 1971, and of the contract for the purchase of dental educational services is to improve dental *341education and dental care in the state of Wisconsin and that the principal and primary effect does not advance religion. See Tilton v. Richardson (1971), 403 U. S. 672, 91 Sup. Ct. 2091, 29 L. Ed. 2d 790; State ex rel. La Follette v. Reuter (1967), 33 Wis. 2d 384, 147 N. W. 2d 304. But, I find no continuing relationship between the state of Wisconsin and Marquette University which will result in an excessive involvement or entanglement between the state and religion even assuming Marquette University is a sectarian institution. The state need only find two conditions to be assured the dental education program was being properly conducted so that it receives its quid pro quo for its money. This information can be secured from sources other than Marquette University. First, the state needs to know the number of Wisconsin residents enrolled each year as full-time undergraduate students in dentistry. The state must also be satisfied that Marquette University’s manner of operating the school of dentistry is approved and the school is accredited by the Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association and by the State Board of Dental Examiners. Neither of these requirements necessitate any great involvement of the state in the operation of the dental school. There is no danger to any degree that religion will creep into the training of a dentist. But, to eliminate some surveillance seemingly required by the constitution in this respect, the statute requires the curriculum of the school of dentistry shall not contain courses on religious instruction. This requirement is a supercaution because the dental school does not have courses in religion for its dental students. The majority opinion quite properly points out there is no religious way of practicing dentistry.
There is considerable doubt in my mind whether Marquette University is a sectarian or religious institution in the context of the first amendment to the United *342States Constitution or art. I, sec. 18 of the Wisconsin Constitution. But this issue need not be decided because it has been held time and again that a religious institution may receive some benefit from a public grant without violating the constitution. See Board of Education v. Allen, supra.
I find no excessive entanglement of the present contract. The majority opinion would add more safeguards to be sure the money paid Marquette University would not be used for religious purposes; these are not needed but, if added to the statute, should not be accompanied by excessive controls.
I am not so much worried about religion influencing the state as I am that the state will influence religion through controls. If public health is not a sufficient goal, certainly education is. At the time the federal constitution was adopted there were no public schools. Education was fostered and nurtured by private institutions. Today, private education is on the brink of extinction because of lack of finances. Private industry in Wisconsin for some years has made contributions to private educational institutions and so, too, has the federal government made grants to private institutions in one form or another. It will be a sad day in America when the only education available is found in public schools controlled by the government. Private education, like private enterprise and free press, has been and must remain basic to our way of life — helped and protected by the government but not dominated thereby.
In this case, I do not find there exists any of the three functions, sponsorship, financial support, and active involvement in religion, sought to be avoided by the establishment clause of the constitution. Walz v. Tax Commission, supra; Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra. The three tests of Lemon have been met, i.e., the state must have no secular purpose, the primary effect must *343neither advance nor inhibit religion, and there must not be excessive entanglement.
In this day of ecumenical spirit, we should have more trust and appreciation for our fellowmen and their religious beliefs and their differences. The present law and contract are the product of our age and in the ecumenical spirit, which recognizes a public purpose may be attained through implementation by dealing with a private school to furnish the educational services the state badly needs and does not furnish. Rather than require excessive governmental surveillance to close an air-tight door to every conceivable possibility or risk that government aid will serve to support religious activities, I would take a more reasonable and practical view of the relationship created by the statute and the contract which were born in mutual trust and respect.