Allowing public funds to be used for tuition and other expenses in private schools through a voucher system has been the source of debate in legislative and educational forums for almost half a century, but only recently have school vouchers become a serious school reform strategy. This article provides a brief overview of the voucher plans…

Reviews "Davey v. Locke," an Establishment Clause case before the Supreme Court. The Court will decide the constitutionality of Washington State's Blaine Amendment, prohibiting aid to religious schools. The lawsuit began when a state agency, citing the Blaine Amendment, revoked Joshua Davey's state-funded scholarship after he switched…

Florida's voucher program for students in the lowest-rated public schools is unconstitutional, the state supreme court ruled early January 2006 in a 5-2 decision that friends and foes of private school choice are scrutinizing for its potential impact on voucher debates nationwide. Chief Justice Barbara J. Pariente of the Florida Supreme Court…

This sixth chapter in a book on school law provides a general overview of the religion clauses of the First Amendment and reviews the cases in which the issue of evolution versus creationism has been decided from the Scopes trial to the present. Rulings related to the Establishment Clause of the Constitution are discussed and the "three-part…

Church-state issues in education have a long history in America. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has made several landmark decisions with regard to the separation of church and state in schools, strong conservative influences in Southern states, including Louisiana, have resulted in state statutes and individual school-district policies and…

Introduces article by Kemerer that takes issue with the conclusions reached by Elizabeth and Andrew Lugg in their article entitled "Vouchers as School Choice: An Analysis of 'Jackson v. Benson': The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program" in the April 2000 issue of "The Journal of Law and Education." (PKP)

Argues that Elizabeth and Andrew Lugg were wrong in criticizing the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision in "Jackson v. Benson" that the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program does not violated the Establishment Clause. Asserts that in the near future the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to find the use of publicly funded vouchers does not violate…

The Praeger Handbook of American High Schools contains entries that explore the topic of secondary schools in the United States. Entries are arranged alphabetically and cover topics as varied as assessment to the history of the American high school, from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to gay and straight student alliances, from the No…

Blasts the supreme court of Washington State for its inappropriate treatment of Larry Witters, a legally blind student denied state vocational rehabilitation funds because his intended Bible studies program supposedly violated the First Amendment's establishment clause. Even a United States Supreme Court reversal failed to end Witter's…

The Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the issuance of tax exempt bonds to a religiously affiliated university violated both state and federal constitutions. Reviews the court decision, analyzes the constitutional issues, and contends that court actions intruded beyond the permissible boundaries of constitutional neutrality. (38…

Describes and analyzes December 2000 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that Cleveland school voucher program violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. (PKP)

Examines the issue of whether implementation of the Equal Access Act would violate the constitutions of some states that require a stricter separation of church and state than the federal Constitution. (MLF)

Describes the facts and state and federal constitutional law related to "Zelman v. Simons-Harris," a Cleveland school-voucher case before the United States Supreme Court. Argues that the Court will likely uphold the constitutionality of the Cleveland voucher program, finding that it does not advance religion in violation of the First…

Many states are looking at education vouchers and asking whether a market solution can improve the quality of public education. The answer partially depends on how government and religion will interact and whether states' constitutions or the religion clauses in the United States Constitution will permit voucher plans to include religious schools.…

This chapter summarizes a number of cases in which the Supreme Court has dealt with the separation of church and state question presented by the First Amendment. These include an Arkansas statute that excluded Darwinian theory from the high school science curriculum. The Court declared the statute unconstitutional because the exclusion was…