In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS ruled ‘that states may not exclude religious schools from tuition grants that support other private schools.’
The decision is a victory for advocates of school choice, and a setback for those favoring strict interpretation of the principle of church and state separation.
Montana, like more than 30 other states, has a long-standing state constitutional provision that forbids spending tax money to support churches and their affiliates. On that basis, the state supreme court blocked a state-sponsored scholarship program that would give grants to parents sending their children to private and parochial schools.
Justice Roberts:
“A state need not subsidize private education,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority, including the four other conservative justices. “But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”
