Section 9.3 Use of Church Facilities by Public Schools

• Library: School Law (2003 Ed. + 2016 Supp)

A. (§9.3) Use of Church Facilities by Public Schools

The law related to the legality of a school district’s use of parochial or church facilities is patterned after the Supreme Court’s decisions related to public aid to parochial institutions. See the discussion about the landmark case of Mitchell v. Helms, 530 U.S. 793 (2000), in §9.11 below. It has been held that a public school’s leasing of classrooms in a sectarian institution for the provision of remedial classes to both private and public school students is constitutional. State ex rel. Sch. Dist. of Hartington v. Neb. State Bd. of Educ., 195 N.W.2d 161, 164 (Neb. 1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 921 (1972). But the Supreme Court, in School District of City of Grand Rapids v. Ball, 473 U.S. 373 (1985), held that when private school students attended “public” school classes on the parochial premises and no public school students...