Constitutional Law

6th Circuit OKs church-state challenge to outsourced education

By By The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ? A federal appeals court has ruled that two East Tennessee teachers can sue their school board over its decision to outsource its alternative-education program to a Christian-based academy.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that David Kucera and Vickie F. Forgety are entitled to sue the Jefferson County school board on claims that the board violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

In a divided opinion, the judges found that the two teachers have the right to sue because their taxes are being used to fund the provision of government education by a religious institution.

In 2003, the school board voted to eliminate its own alternative learning center where the two teachers worked and instead send the students to the private Kingswood Academy.

The board said the decision was a cost-saving move and was not related to the academy?s Christian curriculum. Kingswood is a facility licensed by the state to deal with troubled youth.

The question before the court was whether the teachers, as taxpayers, have the right to sue over what they claim is a constitutional violation. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that taxpayers cannot challenge via federal lawsuit decisions by state and federal lawmakers with which they disagree.

But in this case, the right of municipal taxpayers to challenge local government decisions was open to debate.

In a dissenting opinion, Chief Judge Alice Batchelder said that the only people who could have protested the board?s decision were the parents of the students sent to Kingswood.

?The teachers? interest is to be compensated for losing their jobs,? Batchelder wrote. ?That is hardly the same as the students? interest in not being compelled to worship.?

The majority panel agreed with the teachers that they have the right to sue.

?Because Forgety and Kucera allege that the county spent their tax dollars in violation of the Constitution when it outsourced alternative education to Kingswood ? and regardless of whether the county would have spent more to follow the law ? they meet the injury element of standing as municipal taxpayers,? the opinion stated.

The case now returns to U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips for the setting of a trial date.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).