On September 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that officials from Everett School District #2 in Mill Creek, Washington did not violate student Kathryn Nurre's constitutional rights to free speech by denying the Jackson High School Wind Ensemble the opportunity to perform an instrumental version of Franz Biebl's "Ave…

Scholarship programs authored by state legislatures may conflict with a state's constitution. In the case of "Locke v. Davey" 540 U.S. 807 (2003), Joshua Davey challenged the State of Washington's withdrawal of his Promise Scholarship claiming violation of his First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. This…

The central federal question surrounding vouchers is whether participation of sectarian schools violates the First Amendment's Establishment clause. The U.S. Supreme Court, through its interpretation of the federal Constitution, may have the final word in determining voucher proposals' future. Litigation in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Vermont, and Maine…

Reviews the constitutions of several western states that provide an absolute barrier between religion and public education. Asserts that these laws were passed after the Civil War when concern about minority religious influence in some states was high. Maintains that these state laws may be the next battleground in the ongoing controversy about…

Describes the facts and legal basis of federal court decisions in "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," a case before the U.S. Supreme Court to determine if Cleveland's school voucher program violates the Establish Clause. Discusses the possible educational, legal, and political consequences of the Court's decision. (On June 27, 2002, the Supreme…

As public agencies created by State legislative mandate, school districts and the officers thereof are obligated to abide by several provisions of the United States Constitution. School boards can reduce many of the sources of current student unrest by complying with these provisions. Courts have held that under the Fourteenth Amendment school…