Maine's prohibition against using state funds to pay religious school tuition does not violate the Constitution, a state judge ruled, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has said such payments are permissible.
Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Robert E. Crowley upheld the state's law, the latest setback to a group of families from Durham, Minot and Raymond who say the law violates their civil rights.
A Washington group that favors school choice and brought suit on behalf of the families says it will appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
The families are from small towns that lack a high school and so the school districts pay tuition to the public or private school of a student's choice. But a law passed in 1981 prevents districts from paying tuition at parochial schools. The six families brought suit, saying such a law discriminates against religion and so violates the U.S. Constitution.
Maine and federal courts have rejected similar challenges, but this time the families' case was bolstered by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2002 that said it is permissible in some circumstances for the government to pay for a religious education.
Previous Maine court rulings on the subject found the state law was acceptable because such payments were unconstitutional.
But even though states may fund private, religious education, that does not mean they must do so, Crowley wrote. He said the state offered several arguments for why the law is constitutionally appropriate beyond separation of church and state, among them that it is preferable to have student bodies with a diversity of religious faiths.
The state also does not want to be in a position of regulating what is taught in religious schools, which it would have to do if it were paying for that education, said Jeffrey Thaler, an attorney representing the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which joined the state in arguing against the lawsuit.
The Institute for Justice, a group that advocates for school choice and represented the families in the suit, said it was not surprised by the decision.
Richard Komer, the group's senior litigation attorney, said he fully expected the case would have to be reheard by the Maine supreme court.
"We knew that since the Maine supreme court had already done a similar court decision . . . we didn't expect the trial judge to take a position that's contrary to what they did last time," Komer said. "It's really up to them to change."
The group plans to appeal the case within the allotted three weeks, he said.