Education

1. Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet
   

   114 S. Ct 2481, 512 U.S. 687 (1994)

   • As then constructed, law allowing school district was unconstitutional because it violated the estsblishment clause. NYS legislature rewrote the law and the challenge to the current law is working its way through the court system.
2. Kendall v. Kendall
   

   426 Mass. 238, 687 N.E.2d 1228 (Mass. 1997), SJC-07427. Dated December 9, 1997. Opinion by J. Lynch.

   • Restrictions placed on right of non-custodial parent, a fundamentalist Christian, to expose children to his beliefs when children are being raised by custodial parent as Orthodox Jews; Massachusetts law.
3. Barax v. Barax
   

   246 A.D.2d 382, 667 N.Y.S.2d 733 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998). Dated: January 15, 1998. 

   • Religious education of child; permissibility of sending Jewish child to Conservative Jewish school or secular school despite stipulation and judgment that child be sent exclusively to Orthodox Jewish school; best interest test.
4. Jackson v. Benson
   

   218 Wis.2d 835, 578 N.W.2d 602 (Wis. 1998), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 466 (1998). No. 97-0270. Filed June 10, 1998. Opinion by J. Steinmetz. Dissent by J. Bablitch, in which J. Abrahamson joined. 

   • "Milwaukee Parental Choice Program providing funding to students through grade 3 to attend private schools, both sectarian and nonsectarian, held constitutional.
5. Bauchman v. West High School
   

   132 F.3d 542 (10th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. 2370, 141 L.E.2d 738 (1998), Nos. 95-4084, 96-4101. Dated December 18, 1997. Opinion by J. Brorby. Concurring in part and dissenting in part, J. Murphy.

   • Jewish student in public high school choir class which performed mostly religious songs, sometimes at religious sites, failed to state cause of action for violation of her constitutional rights under the Establishment, Free Exercise, and Free Speech Clauses of the U.S. Constitution; no entitlement to injunctive or declaratory relief; district court abused discretion in exercising pendent jurisdiction over claim defendants violated plaintiff’s state constitutional rights; teacher’s conduct going back twenty years not relevant in establishing whether defendant’s purpose was to advance religion.
6. Smith v. Wisconsin Institute For Torah Study, Inc.
   

   218 Wis.2d 164, 578 N.W.2d 208 (Wis. Ct. App. 1998), No. 96-2922. Dated March 3, 1998. Opinion by J. Cane.

   • Yeshiva, religious high school, located in single-family residential district, could construct dormitory as a permitted accessory use; no detrimental effect on neighborhood.
7. Helms v. Picard
   

   151 F.3d 347 (5th Cir. 1998), No. 97-30231. Dated August 17, 1998. Opinion by J. John M. Duhe, Jr.

   • "(1) Louisiana’s special education program is constitutional as applied in Jefferson parish; (2) the federal instructional materials program, and its Louisiana counterpart, are unconstitutional as applied in Jefferson parish; and (3) transportation payments to the Jefferson Non-Public School Transportation Corporation, which provided transportation for parochial school students, are constitutional.
8. Grumet v. Pataki
   

   244 A.D.2d 31, 675 N.Y.S.2d 662 (N.Y. App. Div.1998), aff’d, ___ N.Y.2d ___, ___ N.Y.S.2d ___, ___ N.E.2d ___ (1999).

   • N.Y. Laws of 1997, chapter 390, allowing municipalities, existing and yet to be formed, to form new school districts, provided an impermissible, unconstitutional religious preference to a Village occupied exclusively by Orthodox Jewish Hasidim desiring to provide their handicapped children with special education services in an exclusive environment.
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