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Court Says It Can Order Father To Pay Religious School Tuition

By Howard M. Friedman

In Jordan v. Rea, (AZ Ct. App., May 28, 2009), an Arizona appellate court held, in a dispute between divorced parents over where their two children would go to school, that the best-interests standard applies and that a court may not rule out a private religious school simply because it is a private religious school. This overturned the trial court's ruling that while both parents can impart religious training to the children, school "is a theologically neutral time."
The appellate court also rejected the father's argument that ordering him to pay for a private religious school would be unconstitutional because it would require him to financially support a religious institution to which he does not subscribe. The court concluded that the father is not being required to support a religious institution, but instead is merely being required to make a child support payment to his former spouse to provide for his children's education in a school the court has found to be in their best interests. Yesterday's Douglas (AZ) Dispatch reports on the decision.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).