Lawsuits in Douglas County School District
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Contents
Vouchers for Private Religious Schools
Timeline via Colorado Public Radio
There have been several lawsuits in this specific topic. One made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which kicked it back to Colorado.
Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District
2014 Colorado State Supreme Court filing
Petitioners
Key players were for the Petitioners:
- Taxpayers for Public Education
- Interfaith Alliance of Colorado
- Kevin Leung (candidate for DCSD board)
Their attorney was Stuart J. Lark of Bryan Cave LLP.
Respondents
Key players for the Respondents:
- Douglas County School District
- Douglas County Board of Education
- Colorado State Board of Education
- Colorado Department of Education
Their attorney was George S. Baylor of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to its advocacy towards criminalizing homosexuality and state-sanctioned sterilization of LGBT people. Their group in Colorado is Colorado Family Action Foundation.
Layman Summary of Lawsuits and Precedent
The subsections below were authored by a volunteer with Colorado Resistance educated in law and passed the Texas bar.
Controlling Law: Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer
Under the Trinity Lutheran decision, SCOTUS ruled that a religious organization cannot be denied funding under a secular, neutral government aid program solely on the basis of its religious status. The controversy leading to this case arose when Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a state grant under a Missouri Department of Natural Resources program that provides funds to resurface playgrounds to qualifying organizations. Trinity Lutheran operated a daycare licensed by the state and would have qualified for the funding but for a clause in the Missouri Constitution which states, "no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion." After Trinity Lutheran was denied funding because of its status as a religious organization, it brought suit against the state of Missouri arguing that the state’s denial of funds intended for a purely secular purpose (resurfacing of a playground) violated Trinity Lutheran’s First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Trinity Lutheran’s suit was initially dismissed at the district level but eventually reached the Supreme Court through the appeals process. In June of 2017, SCOTUS ruled in favor of Trinity Lutheran holding that the state violated Trinity Lutheran’s First Amendment rights by denying a public benefit to an otherwise eligible recipient solely on the basis of its religious status.
Blaine Amendment Overview
The “Blaine Amendments” are provision in the constitution of 36 states which prohibit state government aid to schools with a religious affiliation. Article IX, section 7 of the Colorado constitution includes a Blaine Amendment which states in part that the state, including cities, counties, and school districts, may not provide any appropriations from public funds to support any school controlled by a church or sectarian denomination. Recently, Blaine amendments have come under legal scrutiny because they are often relied upon by groups seeking to challenge the legality of school vouchers. Those in opposition to school vouchers argue that state funded vouchers violate the Blaine Amendment when those funds are used to pay for students attending religiously affiliated schools. Individuals and organizations who support vouchers have argued that Blaine Amendments violate the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution because they deny public benefits to otherwise eligible recipients solely on the basis of religious status.
Taxpayers v. Douglas County
The controversy in Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District arose when Douglas County determined that under its tax payer-funded voucher program, known as the “Choice Scholarship Program,” vouchers could be applied toward tuition at religious schools. The non-profit organization, “Taxpayers for Public Education,” brought an action against Douglas County and the Colorado Board of Education arguing that the voucher program’s inclusion of religious schools violated the Blaine amendment of the state constitution. Florence and Derrick Doyle also joined the litigation as interested 3rd parties. The Doyles had used a Douglas County voucher to send their children to a religious school and therefore had a legal interest in the outcome of the litigation. The three separate actions, Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District, Colorado State Board of Education v. Taxpayers For Public Education, and Doyle v. Taxpayers for Public Education were consolidated into a single case because all three involved the same central controversy – the constitutionality of the Douglas County voucher program.
In 2015, under Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District, the Colorado Supreme Court held that the Douglas County voucher program violated the Blaine Amendment of the Colorado state constitution. The case involved two major issues: (i) whether the Douglas County voucher program violated the Colorado constitution and (ii) whether invalidating the voucher program violates the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
On the first issue, the court held that the voucher program violated the “plain language” of the Blaine Amendment of the Colorado state constitution which prohibits a school district from providing any aid to religious schools. In defense of the constitutionality of the voucher program, Douglas County had two primary arguments. First, that the program was primarily designed to help students rather than institutions. Second, that the program allowed students to use the voucher at religious and non-religious institutions. In addressing Douglas County’s first argument, that the voucher program provided aid to students not to institutions, the court reasoned that the Blaine Amendment forbids direct aid and indirect aid through voucher programs that funnel funds from parents to religious schools, as was the case under the Douglas County voucher program. In addressing Douglas County’s second argument, that the voucher program did not violate the Blaine Amendment because the parents were not required to select a religious school, the court stated that the fact that the program provides public money to students who may use that money toward a religious institution is sufficient to violate the Blaine Amendment.
On the second issue, the court held that invalidating the voucher program does not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Douglas County relied on two federal cases that it believed forbade the Colorado Supreme Court from invalidating the voucher program. The first case was Zelman which held that a state scholarship program permitting students to attend religious schools did not violate the First Amendment. The court in Taxpayer distinguished that scholarship program from the Douglas County voucher program by relying upon prior federal precedent allowing state governments to place greater restrictions on state funded aid to religious organizations than federal government. At issue in Zelman were restrictions created by the federal government while in Taxpayer restrictions created by the Colorado state constitution (the Blaine Amendment) were at issue. Therefore, the Colorado Supreme Court concluded, Zelman was not applicable in the Taxpayer case. The second case relied upon by Douglas County, Colorado Christian, held that a state scholarship program that distinguished “pervasively sectarian” schools from other religious schools discriminated against religion in violation of the First Amendment. The court in Taxpayer determined that Colorado Christian was inapplicable precedent because the controversy in the Douglas County program does not involve distinguishing among religious schools.
Implication of the Trinity Lutheran Decision
Following the Trinity decision, the Supreme Court remanded Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District back down to the Colorado state Supreme Court for further consideration. As in Trinity, Colorado relied upon the Blaine Amendment in reaching its holding in Taxpayer. Under Trinity, SCOTUS held that certain applications of Blaine Amendments violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. In light of new controlling law under Trinity, the Colorado Supreme Court must determine whether invalidation of the Douglas County voucher program based upon application of the Blaine Amendment in the Colorado state constitution violates the Free Exercise Clause of the US Constitution. No date has been set for reconsideration of Taxpayer but the case should be on the Colorado Supreme Court docket in the near future.
