School Finance Aguilar v Felton
EDUCATION AND RELIGION
The Aguilar et al. v Felton et al. Case of 1985
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 allowed for the reimbursement of the salaries of public employees teaching in parochial schools (LII, 2012). These selected teachers provided instruction to low-income children with special needs. A group of taxpayers filed a case, claiming that the program created an excessive entanglement of church and state. It thus violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. In a 5-4 decision in 1985, the Supreme Court, in 473 U.S. 42 or Aguilar et al. v Felton et al., invalidated the New York plan (LII).
Majority Opinion by Justice William Brennan
The supervision used by New York City created excessive entanglement between the government and religion (LII, 2012). Advancing religion may not have been its primary effect, but their close interaction produced that result. Justice Brennan argued that a religious school primarily aims at advancing and preserving a particular religion. This aim clashed against the pressure of the presence of state personnel who monitored teachers and students and guarded them against the influence of "religious thought." Furthermore, the state needed to coordinate schedules and other problems with the religious school. While the court recognized the neutrality of the statue, it was also cautious about the potential for religious advancement. The court would no longer want to risk public instructors' engaging in religious instruction by allowing them into religious classrooms (LII).
Dissenting Opinions
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor argued that the Title I program did not present the risk of advancing religion (Carlson, 1986). Supervision of the teachers controlled that risk. The program was furthermore not a state subsidy of religion on account of a statutory provision that the funds supplement rather than supplant services by the local educational agency. O'Connor concluded that there was no unconstitutionality in the state's supervision of the teachers. Moreover, they were fully responsible for the selection of...
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