Applying recent Supreme Court precedent, the New Mexico Supreme Court reversed course and upheld a textbook loan program, finding a state constitutional provision barring aid to private schools to be rooted in religious animus.
The Montana Constitution’s ban on aid to religious schools does not allow a scholarship tax credit to be used for religious school tuition, the state’s Supreme Court ruled.
Plaintiffs in Maine and Washington are seeking to build on the Supreme Court’s Trinity Lutheran Church ruling to demand state subsidies for religious education despite state funding barring such funding.
A follow up case to Trinity Lutheran may not be far off. It could be a school funding dispute in one of the many states that have chosen to protect against government support for religious education.
Secretary Devos’ interest in expanding school voucher programs nationwide is well known. She should not undermine key state laws, or impugn them as bigoted, to further her goal.